Salem, MO (65560) Today Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing this afternoon. High 89F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight A few clouds. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Elizabethtown, KY (42701) Today Mixed clouds and sun this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 87F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Her first book introduced us to the psychic-detective heroine Cydney Granger, and followed her as she navigated her way through the male-dominated business world, solving crimes and righting wrongs as she went. On taking the step to put pen to paper, Millie-James says it's "just something Ive always wanted to do, Ive always had that in me I think. So many people say they want to write a book but they never get round to it but I actually did. Trust me its hours and hours. But in the end, it pays off. Her second book in the series, Where in the Dark, continues Cydneys journey but with a much more personal context. The novel is set against the backdrop of a society still reeling from the devastating effects of the Holocaust, of which Millie-James family were victims. Her father was brought up in Berlin and in 1939, at the age of 12, was evacuated with the Kindertransport to London. Tragically, he lost the rest of his family, including his parents, brothers and sister-in-law in the Nazi concentration camps. Speaking candidly on the topic, Millie-James states, I always wanted to write something about it. Ill never write about the Holocaust again, Ive got it all out my system but I always wanted to do something, in memory of him. Millie-James undertook a great deal of research whilst working on the novel, including interviewing two Holocaust survivors. She talks about her motives, I wanted to find out why, how could another human being do that to someone else. I spoke to someone who is a criminal psychologistabout why people would follow one person like this, she tells me, referencing the unwavering adoration people had for Adolf Hitler. She says, mournfully, that it could have been so different. Germany couldve done so well for the people but they didnt, they chose not to and it was all about economics and using the Jewish people as scapegoats. I wanted to do justice to the story and I think I did, she says poignantly.Millie-James likens her writing process to recreating a memory, using her personal experiences to fuel her storytelling. She tells me that the first book was cathartic, because a lot of it is true from my childhood and I used those experiences. It was putting things down on paper that in some ways Id put out my mind for many years and wanted to recreate but I did it in a novel rather than a personal account. I suppose you hide behind your characters, she says. Her fiction is an exercise in catharsis, her characters are rich with details of her own life and Cydney in particular, in her own words, is a reflection of herself. "Cydney is me I suppose. The things she says are things that I would say to my daughter. They say write what you know and know what you write," she reasons. But she goes further, stating how Cydney is not simply a parallel to herself but more a version of herself she feels unable to be. "Cydney is feistyI suppose thats me really. Im quite feisty but do I let my vulnerability show? No, I probably dont. But she does, because she can. Thats what I mean you hide behind your characters sometimes." Its an eye-opening insight into her self-reflective writing process. Although perhaps darker and more difficult in tone, returning to write the second book, in Millie-James words, was like coming home. She talks of Cydney, her central character, with a love and fondness that feels touchingly sentimental. Its really like, shes become like a dear friend, you know, very close, she states. I ask her about a particularly unusual facet of Cydneys character, her abilities as a psychic medium and why she was prompted to include this. Well I always think my books are a bit like Sixth Sense meets John Grishamyou know if Sherlock Holmes could read minds, hed find his killers a bit quicker, she says, laughing. I do believe that there are spirit people around you, helping you. Its just me, not everyone does, but I do and I thought it would be a nice little touch. She speaks excitedly about her plans for the future of the series, she is currently writing the third instalment in the novels and hopes to extend that even further. Its a long process. But once you get into it, you think oh I really like this. Im not going to lose her [Cydney]. I always intended it to be a series and I hope to continue it for 6 books or whatever, you never know. But that was not the plan originally. After her agents suggestion to put Cydney on hold and write about a different topic, Millie-James says she faced writers block unlike anything shes experienced before, I phoned my agent up and I said Im really really struggling. I really dont know but I really miss Cydney and he said well go back to it so I turned the book around and made it about her and as soon as I did that the writing just flowed. It is clear Millie-James love for her characters shines through her writing, particularly with regards to Cydney, and it is a good thing too because she is a favourite with fans. People have said to me oh god whens the next book coming out she tells me. Luckily for everyone she is aiming for September this year, so its not too long to wait. Until then, we have the first two to get stuck into.Where in the Dark is published by King of the Road Publishing, 8.99. For more information click here. After being trafficked, survivors struggle to rebuild lives The process of rehabilitation is critical in assisting survivors to move on and recover from the horrors that have been inflicted on them. But, for these survivors, as they try to piece together their lives, how they view reintegration and reality is a different matter altogether. What to know about vaccine verification at WVU: 'Were going to rely on the honor system' The end of this week brings more events, a call for papers, a residential fellowship, an opinion and a guide! Events Those interested in international patent litigation should head to Kilburn and Strode's offices in London on 21 February 2019 for an evening debate on International Patent litigation: harmonisation in an era of fragmentation? The event marks the launch of the second edition of International Patent Litigation and consists of a multi-jurisdictional panel of experts, including the Rt. Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob, to ponder and probe the following themes: Running the same core case in different jurisdictions - How lean can we be? Global forum shopping - Where do we starts? Common vs. civil law - is either fit for purpose? The event is free; see here for full details and to reserve your spot. 19 February 2019 , in Madrid on 21-22 February 2019 . For more information and the upcoming events check here. WIPO offers its Roving Seminars on WIPO Services presenting the IP tools you need to protect and leverage you intangible assets and to grow your business. The Roving Seminars are organized with local stakeholders including national IP officers. Most seminars are free of charge. Next seminars are in Seville on, in Madrid on. For more information and the upcoming events check The Charted Institute of Patent Attorneys, supported by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, is bringing a Brexit roadshow to the United States this April to explain what Brexit means for intellectual property. Sir Colin Birss, a judge of the Patents Court of England and Wales, officials from the UK Intellectual Property Office and US Patent and Trademark Office will join a delegation led by CIPA President Julia Florence. 22 April 2019 , Boston on 23 April 2019 and Palo Alto on 25 April 2019 . They will each be followed by networking cocktail receptions. See The CIPA seminars will be held in Washington DC on, Boston onand Palo Alto on. They will each be followed by networking cocktail receptions. See here form more details and to register your place. Call for Papers 8-9 July 2019 . The deadline for the proposals for papers to be presented at the congress is 21 April 2019 . Submissions are encouraged on any topic related to the economics of copyright broadly defined. You can find more information The Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues will hold its annual congress in Montpellier (France) on. The deadline for the proposals for papers to be presented at the congress is. Submissions are encouraged on any topic related to the economics of copyright broadly defined. You can find more information here Should I apply? Short-term residential fellowship CIPPM/Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for European Intellectual Property and Information Rights invites applications for short-term residential fellowship to carry out independent research and study at Bournemouth University. The deadline for applications is 22 March 2019 . If you are interested please e-mail the Centre Director Professor Maurizio Borghi and the Centre Co-Director Professor Dinusha Mendis . Guide Woburn, MA (01801) Today Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 77F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low near 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Woburn fire Department sation 3 on Main St in Central Square is falling apart and is subject of a lot of news reportsw these days. Photo by joebrownphotos.com Student Government elections for the 2019-2020 school year are under a month away, and candidate registration has already begun, with a deadli Thank you for Reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and Purchase a Subscription to continue reading. Letter to the Editor Critical Race Theory Now those that remain in the Republican Party are all upset that the Critical Race Theory might be revealed through the ... 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 712-243-2624 or email circ@ant-news.com. Sunday dinner at Blue Jeans Center Sunday dinner will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday at the Blue Jeans Center, 1242 Main St., Monroe City. The menu includes fried chicken, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, carrot, slaw, bread and desserts. Cost is $9 for adults and $4 for children. Carry out will be available. All proceeds will be used to help keep the center open. Wreaths to be collected on March 1 Wreaths Across America group has set March 1 as the pick-up day for wreaths at the city cemeteries. Last December a group consisting of members of the local Kiwanis and Rotary clubs placed approximately 2,000 wreaths at the graves of veterans buried in the cemeteries on Willow Street. Those wreaths will be collected on March 1 and then burned at the Indiana Military Museum grounds. Anyone who purchased a wreath for a friend or relatives grave is welcome to take their wreath prior to the March 1 collection day. Also, anyone who has tattered or damaged American flags are welcome to bring those to the collection site for proper disposal. NEW YORK The nine companies and organizations tasked with servicing the accounts of the nation's 30 million student loan borrowers repeatedly failed to do their jobs properly over a period of years and their regulator neglected to hold them responsible, a new report finds. The report released Thursday by the Department of Education's independent inspector general's office shows some borrowers weren't getting the guidance and protection they needed as they sought the best plan for paying off their student loans. The nation's student loan debt now stands at $1.5 trillion. The Inspector General's report focused on the operations of Federal Student Aid, a part of the Department of Education that oversees student loans, from January 2015 to September 2017. FSA also oversees student loan servicers, making sure they are in compliance with their contracts with the federal government. The report found, in many cases, FSA was not holding student loan servicers accountable when they failed to follow the rules. For example, the report says FSA found a problem at a student loan servicer six out of 10 times the regulator did a formal observation, with some servicers having the same issue repeatedly. Instead of ordering changes at the servicers, FSA often let the company off with a slap on the wrist. "In most cases ... FSA did not take actions stronger than correcting the accounts of those affected (and) rarely did the FSA require the servicer to conduct a full file review," the report said. "FSA also rarely penalizes servicers for recurring noncompliance." In its response to the inspector general, the FSA disagreed with the report's conclusions but agreed to follow its recommendations. "We fundamentally disagree with the (Inspector General's) assertion that we do not have processes and procedures in place to ensure loan servicing vendors provide high-quality, compliant service to borrowers," said Liz Hill, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education. "That said, we also are continuously looking for ways to improve." The federal government does not manage student loans on its own. FSA outsources student loan accounts to a handful of private companies and state-run loan authorities. Navient, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Nelnet Servicing and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency are the largest. The companies are paid a monthly fee per account and are responsible for making sure borrowers pay on time, and that the borrower is in the correct repayment plan. In its report, the inspector general highlighted two recurring problems in particular: Loan servicer representatives failed to inform borrowers of all their repayment options and they miscalculated a borrower's monthly payments under certain types of repayment plans. "The report makes clear that the issues borrowers have been facing in the student loan market are far more pronounced and more significant than we even realized," said Seth Frotman, president of the Student Borrower Protection Center and a former government official who oversaw student loans at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Under its contracts with the servicers, FSA can penalize them in cases of noncompliance. But investigators found FSA only required servicers to return $181,000 in revenue for failing to properly handle student loans. In its response to the Inspector General, FSA said the financial penalties have grown to $2 million since September 2017. The Inspector General noted that amount is still a fraction of the $1.7 billion FSA paid student loan servicing companies between 2018 and 2019 for managing loan accounts. The Inspector General's report concludes that FSA's pattern of not holding student loans servicers to account may have "harmed students" and may have hurt taxpayers because student loans servicers were paid for services they provided poorly. "FSA's not holding servicers accountable could lead to servicers being paid more than they should have (and) borrowers might not have been protected from poor services," the report says. One servicer, Navient, has been sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and five states on allegations that the company failed to put borrowers into the correct repayment plans. But the report found that all nine companies monitored by FSA failed to some degree to properly advise borrowers. The inspector general looked at two months of call records: April and May 2017. In those months, Navient was among the better performers of all the servicers, receiving a failing grade on fewer than 1 percent of calls in both months. In a statement, Navient said, "This report shows that Navient had among the highest compliance rates." Navient also said it refutes conclusions made in the inspector general's report that it sometimes fails to inform borrowers about all their repayment options, a critique also made in an earlier report from the FSA. Some servicers were worse than others. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Authority, which is known better as FedLoan Servicing, was given failure ratings on 10.6 percent of its calls that FSA monitored in April 2017. The next month was no better, with FSA given a failure rating to 8.6 percent of the authority's monitored calls. A spokesman for Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Authority was not immediately available for comment. AP Education Reporter Collin Binkley contributed to this report from Boston. Ken Sweet covers banks, student loans and other financial issues for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at @kensweet. Under pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it would move toward setting safety limits for a class of highly toxic chemicals contaminating drinking water around the country. Environmentalists, congressional Democrats and state officials countered that the agency wasn't moving fast enough. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an "action plan" for dealing with the long-lasting substances, which have been linked to health threats ranging from cancer to decreased fertility. The perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, have turned up increasingly in public water systems and private wells. Wheeler said the agency's plan would help communities monitor, detect and address PFAS pollution. But environmentalists and some members of Congress said the strategy wasn't aggressive enough on dealing with the chemicals, which are found in firefighting foam, nonstick pots and pans, water-repellent clothing and many other household and personal items. "This is a non-action plan, designed to delay effective regulation of these dangerous chemicals in our drinking water," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt described PFAS contamination as a "national priority" and pledged swift action last May. Wheeler has served as the EPA's acting head since Pruitt's resignation in July amid ethics scandals, and the agency's handling of PFAS contamination was raised as an issue in Wheeler's confirmation hearings. Scientific studies have found "associations" between the chemicals and cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis and other health issues. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said the EPA plan doesn't include a commitment to set safety limits for the chemicals in drinking water and prolongs the evaluation for at least another year. "It has taken the EPA nearly a year to just kick the can even further down the road," Carper said. "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." David Ross, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Water, said the agency intends to set the standards. Doug Benevento, head of the EPA regional office representing a number of Western states, tweeted: "We are moving through the regulatory process required under the Safe Water Drinking Act before we make a determination." Speaking at a news conference in Pennsylvania, Wheeler said Americans "count on EPA every time they turn on their faucet" and that the agency's plan provides a comprehensive approach to dealing with PFAS. But Mark Favors, a New York City resident who attended the event and was critical of the plan, said members of his family had been affected by PFAS contamination from an Air Force base in Colorado. Military installations are among the leading generators of the pollutants because of their extensive use of firefighting foam in training exercises. "My cousin, he did two tours in Iraq. His children drank PFAS for the entire time he was there for the U.S. Army," Favors said. "For an administration that touts that they go above and beyond for the military, I find this a bit underwhelming." The EPA strategy focuses largely on two of the oldest and most common PFAS chemicals, both of which have been phased out by manufacturers but remain widespread in the environment. By the end of this year, the EPA will "propose a regulatory determination" for those chemicals, known as PFOS and PFOA, the next step toward establishing limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Wheeler said. Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican and chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, described the plan as "a first step" but said the EPA "must be willing to take decisive action where it is warranted." The EPA also is moving toward listing PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances, which could make them eligible for cleanups under the Superfund program, and will issue interim groundwater cleanup recommendations for contaminated sites, Wheeler said. The agency will propose adding PFAS chemicals to a drinking water monitoring program and develop new methods for detecting them in water, soil and groundwater. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have pressed him to establish mandatory limits for PFAS in public water systems. Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, whose state of West Virginia was one of the first where PFAS contamination was linked to health problems, said she voted for Wheeler's nomination in committee 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. Thousands of distinct PFAS chemicals, which resist heat and repel grease, water and oil, have been in production since the 1940s. They've 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. The EPA has established a nonbinding "advisory level" of 70 parts per trillion for the two older versions, PFOA and PFOS, which the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has described as too weak. Some states have imposed tougher limits. Michigan, one of the states that have used the EPA level and looked to the agency for guidance, said it was "concerned that the timeline for federal action on PFAS standards and regulations is not more aggressive." Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan, and Knickmeyer from Washington, D.C. AP writer Mike Casey in Concord, New Hampshire and AP photographer Matt Rourke contributed to this report. Community Hospital may have overbilled Medicare for at least $22 million, according to a recently released two-year federal audit. The hospital did not fully comply with Medicare billing rules on nearly half the claims it reviewed, the report stated. The report, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, found 86 inpatient claims of 170 inpatient and outpatient claims checked were flagged between 2015 and 2016, auditors said. That resulted in nearly $1.3 million more paid than it should have received in the sample. When they did the math for all Communitys Medicare billings, auditors estimated the hospital collected $22 million more than it should have during that period. The lack of adequate financial controls a system for checks and balances to prevent overbilling was blamed, auditors said. Of all the disputed claims, the report found 63 of 90 patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation facilities did not meet the proper rules for being billed through Medicare Part A. Community earned $275 million total from Medicare from nearly 20,000 inpatient and almost 170,000 outpatient claims between 2015 and 2016, the report states. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector Generals (OIG) report is asking Community to repay the $22 million, return any other money it over-collected outside of the audit period, and tighten financial procedures. A spokeswoman for Community disputed most of the reports conclusions. Community Hospital vehemently disagrees ... and will immediately appeal these findings, Marie Forszt, Communitys Vice President of Marketing and Communications, said in a statement. Those claims were also reviewed in prior audits, she said. The hospital had a rigorous process to make sure that inpatient rehabilitation patients were properly admitted under billing rules. The hospital also pushed back on the reports methods, saying auditors used the wrong standards and its analysis methods were flawed, inappropriate and premature, according to the report. The federal report states the OIG forwarded disputed claims to an independent medical review contractor, which backed up its findings. In a 19-page response, Community Hospital CEO Luis F. Molina questioned the report and said repaying $22 million or more would be a huge cost for the hospital. Seymour will be the next Hoosier community to install a Save Haven Baby Box thanks to the efforts of a Columbus North High School student. City council members unanimously accepted a donation from senior Hunter Wart of Hope during a meeting Monday night. Wart raised $10,000 on his own by mowing yards and scrapping metal to have the baby box built with plans to install it at a fire station in Columbus as part of his senior project. The boxes are designed as a way for an individual to surrender a baby safely, legally and anonymously, said Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc. founder Monica Kelsey, who attended Mondays meeting with Wart. Last month, Columbus officials denied Warts request to install the baby box there, saying it was not the optimal way of dealing with the surrender of infants. From what I understand, the mayor and the fire chief didnt want to take responsibility for the box, Wart said. Their official position was the only way to guarantee the safety of the child was for the mother to walk in to the fire station and hand the child to a person and also for them to assess the mother, Kelsey said. The problem with that is the law does not say it has to be the mother who surrenders the child. Under Indianas Safe Haven Law, individuals already can surrender an infant without risk of legal action as long as they do so at a hospital or an emergency service provider, such as a fire station or police station. Department of Child Services then takes custody of the abandoned infant. The Safe Haven Law has been around for 18 years, Kelsey said. So far in the state of Indiana, weve had 72 women walk into fire stations and surrender their newborn child. Three of those babies were in our baby boxes. The baby box gives the person a greater level of anonymity, and therefore, an individual might be more likely to use it, Kelsey said. Women want anonymity, she said. They dont want to walk up to someone and hand the child to them. For a mother to walk up to someone, hand their child to them and basically say, I want whats best for my child and its not me, is probably the hardest thing this mother is ever going to do. What we dont want is for a baby to be abandoned because a woman wouldnt go into a facility. Councilman Lloyd Hudson asked for an explanation of how the baby boxes operate. The boxes are placed in the side of a wall, and its kind of like a window that slides in, Kelsey said. The mom, if she chooses to surrender the child inside the box, opens the door, and a 911 call goes out. Once the child is placed in the box, another alarm goes off, and there is a button inside for the mother to push. When the doors shut after the mom places the child inside, it locks that child on the inside of the box, and then only fire or medical (personnel) on the inside of the building can retrieve that child, she said. The boxes are temperature-controlled, she said. They go through rigorous testing to make sure they dont fail, she said. Since fire stations, police stations and hospitals are manned 24 hours a day, there is always someone to respond to the alarm, making response time within five minutes, Kelsey said. She created Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc. as a nonprofit organization in 2014. Abandoned as an infant herself in 1973, Kelsey, who lives in Woodburn, decided to bring baby boxes to the United States after seeing one at a church in South Africa while she was on a pro-life speaking tour. There was no Safe Haven Law, and I was abandoned two hours after my birth mom gave birth to me, Kelsey said. So you can see that this isnt something I do for money. This is a nonprofit organization that I do as a ministry because I dont ever want a child to feel unwanted because every child is wanted by someone. Every child that has been placed in a baby box has been adopted, she said. Thats the beauty of this, she said. We are giving women an option to not place their child in a dumpster and place it in a safe place so that their life goes on without going to prison for murder because they dumped this child in a dumpster. And the child gets to have a forever family with parents that have probably been praying for this child for years. The first two baby boxes were installed in Indiana in 2016 at volunteer fire stations but were moved to regular stations that are manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Wart said he came up with the idea for his project after hearing about a newborn baby being placed in a baby box at the Coolspring Township Volunteer Fire Department in Michigan City. Other baby boxes in Indiana are located at the Woodburn Fire Department, Decatur Township Fire Department in Marion County, Chesterton Fire Department, North Vernon Fire Department and Carmel Fire Department. Besides Indiana, there are Save Haven Baby Boxes in Ohio and Arizona, too. Since weve had the boxes in the state of Indiana, weve had zero abandonments in our state and a record number of safe surrenders, Kelsey said. So what we are doing is working. The women of the state of Indiana appreciate the help we are giving them. Seymours baby box will be installed at Fire Station 3 on Meadowbrook Drive behind The Home Depot. That station was chosen because its the closest to Interstate 65, its the most private and will be the easiest building to equip. Fire Chief Brad Lucas said he has researched the boxes for a while now, reaching out to the North Vernon and Decatur Township fire chiefs to learn more about the boxes. It works, Lucas said. I cant think of any reason not to do it. Kelsey said Seymour will be the most southern location available for mothers to access a baby box. I can tell you Kentucky has had two abandonments in the last 12 months, she said. We will advertise for women to come up here. I dont care where these women come from. Were about saving the lives of infants. Councilman Jerry Hackney asked if there had been any problems with existing baby boxes, such as a baby dying after being left in a box. Kelsey said the only issue was when the Decatur Township Fire Department building was struck by lightning and caused its baby box to malfunction. The box was locked from the outside, and a sign was put up informing people it could not be used at the time. Weve never had a puppy in a box, which I thought for sure we would have, she said. Weve never had vandalism to any of the boxes. Hackney also wanted to know if firefighters are trained how to respond to a baby that is surrendered in a baby box. Kelsey, who also is a firefighter/medic, said she provides training to emergency responders and others on how to handle a surrendered baby in a baby box and about the Safe Haven Law in general. City officials and others who attended Monday nights meeting applauded Wart and Kelsey for their work to save babies. We want to thank you both for being here tonight, Mayor Craig Luedeman said. Hunter, we really appreciate everything youve done to make this happen, and were excited to see it move forward for you. The Knights of Columbus Council 1252 in Seymour also backed the project. Several members of the Catholic-supported organization attended Mondays meeting. Grand Knight Mark Nowling said the group is willing to take on the annual $200 cost to lease the box from Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc., which provides maintenance services for the boxes and liability insurance. We are willing to incur the cost of whatever it takes to make this happen, Nowling said. We support life and dont want to see or hear or read of a child dumped in a dumpster. Members of the Wabash Valley Progressives later this month are looking to continue a conversation started a year ago. Building Bridges, a conversation about improving race relations, will take place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the Knox County Public Library, 502 N. Seventh St., and will be hosted by Meghan Quinn and Tyson Sims, both WVP members and English instructors at Vincennes University. These are issues we have to continually talk about, they are not something we can solve in one meeting, Sims said. It might feel like, We did this last year. Why do we have to do it again? But this is something that requires continuous education. Nearly 50 people gathered for the first race relations conversation in February of 2018. Facilitated by Jim Sims, president of the Monroe County chapter of the NAACP and a Bloomington City Council member, members of Wabash Valley Progressives found themselves hopeful after two hours of thoughtful discussion. But most were left wanting more, believing theyd only scratched the surface in terms of how local race relations can be improved. I think the last event offered a starting point, Quinn said. I felt like it gave us a gauge of the important conversations we need to have to start making a difference. I know a lot of people were worried there would be disagreement or hurt feelings, but people were genuinely interested in having a public discussion about race. But perhaps, Quinn challenged, they didnt dig deep enough. People should squirm a bit during discussions like these, because its not a comfortable issue, she said. It shouldnt be a comfortable issue. I want people to step back and really ask themselves, Are there ways Im contributing to this issue without meaning to at all? Last year, the those who attended the Building Bridges conversation discussed everything from the effects of institutional and systemic racism to local police relations, a person's right to free speech, and even the display of long-standing symbols of racism like the Confederate flag. Jim Sims challenged local elected officials and community leaders to demand an attitude of acceptance in their communities, and he commended the Wabash Valley Progressives for challenging the way local think about race. This time, the discussion will focus on structural racism. I think last time, we talked around those issues, Simms said. We may not be looking at race here in terms of nooses (hanging in public places) or shouting horrible things, but structural discrimination is a whole other, important issue. What is the diversity makeup of the city council, the county council, our teachers, police department? I think thats when we will begin to have some very interesting conversations because for many people, its invisible. Lets identify those spaces and places where we can make real, concrete improvements. Creating a more diverse community, Simms and Quinn say, will result in more people wanting to live here, more people wanting to work here, and more people wanting to open businesses here. Improved race relations, they say, means a better, more culturally-driven living environment for all, which is why they believed it so important to continue the Building Bridges series. I hope this time people are more willing to recognize how they might be inadvertently participating in some of these unfair structures, Quinn said. And ask themselves, What can I do to help that? Ignoring the issue of race, she said, does nothing to curb unrecognized prejudiced behaviors. Simms, too, said he hopes an ongoing conversation of race will open up the possibility of Vincennes celebrating more its rich African American history. There is much evidence, he said, of the existence of a stop on the Underground Railroad here during the Civil War. VUs Morris Hall is named for John Morris, a freed slave and a charter member of Mariah Creek Church but few people realize it, he said. If Vincennes wants to see itself as a diverse, truly American city, he said, then lets celebrate all of its history. City and county elected officials are looking to grow their partnership. Mayor Joe Yochum this week pitched the idea of a combined planning employee whose position would be to serve both entities. And, for the most part, it was well received. County council president, for one, Bob Lechner was all for it. I think there is a need for something like that, he told his fellow council members during their regular monthly meeting Tuesday, which was held at City Hall, 201 Vigo St., due to ongoing updates at the Vincennes Fortnightly Clubhouse. The cooperation between both bodies the city and the county is at an unprecedented high. There are opportunities out there we're not taking advantage of, he said. And now that we have this level of cooperation and trust in one another, these kinds of partnerships just make sense. Currently, the Loogootee-based Southern Indiana Development Commission serves as a grant administrator for the city on many projects, most recently a $50,000 grant that will help give a facelift to the Works Progress Administration-era shelter house and bathrooms at Gregg Park. SIDC has also helped to find thousands of dollars in state grants over the years aimed at helping the elderly and less fortunate fix up the outside of their home through Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Grants. But Yochum said there are way more grant dollars out there to be had. I think there are grants out there that (SIDC) isn't necessarily looking at, he said. Yochum envisions this planning position as a contracted one city and county elected officials could call upon, as needed, to search for grant opportunities that would collectively benefit the county as a whole. Both entities have ideas for growth and improvement, he said, but no one to oversee them. Yochum pointed to the city and county's joint application last fall to be named the state's first region-focused Stellar Community. The group eventually pulled out of the race as they found it too time-consuming and difficult to get the application together. But they vowed to try again. I want someone who can oversee those kinds of applications, look for grants, oversee projects if we do get grants, Yochum said. At least, that's how I envision it. The person could also look for common ground in both the city's comprehensive plan and a similar one being developed by county officials now. Such plans are prerequisites for Stellar applications. And Yochum said the position could be directly involved in the Pantheon Business Theater once it's up and running, too. Perhaps there will be opportunities that grow out of that, Yochum said. But I'd say the biggest thing right now is looking for those grants. We just need help in moving our plans forward. Neither the city nor the county has drafted the legislation that would allow for such a position, nor have they talked about an hourly wage. Yochum said he figured they could start small, something equivalent to part-time work, then work up from there. Contracting with the person, however, would eliminate the cost of offering benefits. And I would really like to see it done by this spring, the mayor said. Monday being Presidents' Day, I decided to follow through with a promise I made to a faithful reader about listing the chief executives I believe the best and the worst. I believe, together, we've had only a few truly great and truly awful presidents; most of the 44 men to serve in the office are distributed in between, some a little above average, some a little below, but all basically average in that meaty part of the curve. Of the best, there are Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, who were also the two smartest men to be president. Jefferson, the great polymath, was so popular upon his election in 1800 he could have easily fundamentally transformed the nature of the government, to have truly brought about the type of revolution his enemies feared would occur with his gaining office. But he didn't, showing that, in America, a change in government took place sans guillotine. Today is actually the anniversary of Jefferson's true election as president, which had to be settled in the House of Representatives as the electoral vote had ended in a tie between he and Aaron Burr. Too much party discipline, for which I blame James Madison. And more than 200 years on, Jefferson remains the author of the greatest line ever included in an inaugural address: We are all republicans: we are all federalists. Roosevelt was a sort of natural phenomenon, pure energy incarnate, and if there was about him something of the spoiled child's desperate need of attention and all the attention, as his daughter, Alice, famously remarked, saying her father wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding he was, with his faults, the right man at the right time. Roosevelt brought balance to the affairs of state, a countervailing power to curb the assaults of unbridled greed on the land and the people; and there is never enough to be said for his commitment to preserving our natural history, for which we are continually thankful. Our two greatest presidents are Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who faced the greatest challenges to the country's survival. I've gone back and forth over who ranks ahead of the other, sometimes putting Lincoln first and FDR second, other times vice versa. I've taken a page from both and compromised, ranking them No. 1 as Lincoln/FDR. Lincoln fought the Civil War basically alone, while Roosevelt battled both the Great Depression and World War II but did so with the aid of a fully functioning government. It took Lincoln almost three years before he found U.S. Grant, while FDR was able to set the bureaucracy in motion, which in short order separated the wheat from the chaff and delivered George C. Marshall's file to Roosevelt's desk. Lincoln sat on the fence quite awhile deciding how he would proceed with the other great issue: the rights of former slaves. But when the time came, he came down on the right side. Roosevelt had a definite feeling for the post-war world, for the fate of those having lived under repression and were now free, a view not shared by many within his own government. Death denied each man an opportunity to see his plan fulfilled, to the country's and the world's great misfortune. Those are my four great presidents: Lincoln/FDR, Jefferson and Teddie Roosevelt. As for the worst, I have three: There's Nixon, for which there is no explanation needed. Next is Warren G. Harding, a congenial fellow (and, I'm sorry to say, a newspaper man) whose administration could be summed up in the phrase: Boys, my back is turned. And, lastly, Bill Clinton, a man of extraordinary ability who just couldn't avoid temptation, who ended up subjecting the country to the unnecessary sordidness of his dirty laundry; his legacy was to bring to prominence enemies whose influence was to long outlast his own. Gayle R. Robbins is editor and publisher of The Sun-Commercial. He can be reached at grobbins@suncommercial.com. WASHINGTON The chemical compounds are all around you. They're 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. There's 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 wasn't moving quickly enough to address the issue. 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 don't remain in the human body as long as older types. Some researchers say too little is known about them to be sure of that. 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 EPA's "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." 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 aren't waiting for the EPA, particularly regarding groundwater and, more recently, drinking water. New Jersey and Vermont are among those that have set standards more stringent than the EPA's; 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 state's 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 EPA's health advisory for a lifetime of exposure for two PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFOA. 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 it's 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 don't 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. Casey reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan. 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. To know that they are right there, just a half hour, and not be able to go, its very frustrating for me," he said. "Im sure for other people in this boat right now." POLICE have charged two males in connection with the theft of three high-value bicycles from a house in Tiddington. The incident happened sometime between 26th and 28th January. Dylan Dunne Harrison, aged 18, from Birmingham, and a 16-year-old boy from Birmingham who can't be named for legal reasons, were arrested in Stratford-upon-Avon on Monday (11th February) following a joint operation between officers from the Warwickshire Police Offender Management Unit and West Midlands Police. West Midlands Police charged the pair with burglary in connection with the incident in Tiddington along with three burglaries, three robberies and two attempted robberies in the West Midlands. They appeared at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Wednesday (13th February) and were remanded in custody to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on 13th March. Its easy to point to the opportunities that come with growth. More restaurants, more retail, more jobs. Its just as easy to point to the mun Ashtabula, OH (44004) Today Cloudy this morning. A few showers developing during the afternoon. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. English16/02/2019 PRIORITY - PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC POTENTIAL BANJALUKA, FEBRUARY 16 /SRNA/ - Head of the Representative Office of Republika Srpska in Austria, Mladen Filipovic, told Srna today that priority in this year will be continuation of promotion Srpskas business potential in Austria. "The trade exchange of Austria with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska is significant. With the realization of various projects, we will support businessmen from Srpska which want to cooperate with counterparts from Austrian," said Filipovic. He pointed out that one of the activities is going to be strengthening the cooperation with the diaspora. "It is going to be achieved through the realization of the project "Let's cultivate the Serbian language". With the support of the President of Republika Srpska, Zeljka Cvijanovic, the Government of Republika Srpska and the Representative Office of Republika Srpska in Austria, we are going to work on establishing the Serbian language schools, which would be of great importance," added Filipovic. Heads of departments of Republika Srpska were invited to attend a briefing in Banja Luka, where they will present the results and the plans for the coming period to the republic leaders. The meeting could be held by the end of this month. /end/bo by Tisaranee Gunasekara If they harm me, it is the country they harm. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (Hard Talk Daily Mirror October 2011) The beautification of Goabhaya Rajapaksa is on full throttle. The names of his front organisations are indicative of the guise he intends to adopt as a presidential contender : The Light ( Eliya ) and The Intellectual Path ( Viyath Maga ). In a recent interview , he is p hotographed with a laden bookshelf forming the background the erudite leader ready to guide the country towards the light along the intellectual path. It would have been a harmless joke had it not been for the mans past. In Gotabhaya Rajapaksas pantheon, no divinity is more important than the god of discipline . Freedom, he tells his future subjects, is of no use without discipline . The burden of his song is simple - u nder Rajapaksa rule, there was discipline ; n ow theres anarchy ; o nce the presidency returns to the Family, t he paradise of discipline will be regained. Perhaps its time to recall a few vignettes of the paradise of discipline we lost. On 24 th November 2011, making the keynote speech at the inaugural National Conference on Reconciliation, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa proclaimed Sri Lanka to be one of the most secure and stable countries...in the entire world. Exactly a month later, on the Christmas E ve o f 2011 , in the Rajapaksa bastion of Tangalle , Khuram Shaikh , a British tourist, was hacked to death and his Russian companion gang raped . The culprits were Sampath Chandrapushpa Vidanapathirana , a Rajapaksa acolyte and the handpicked head of the Tangalle Pradesheeya Sabha , and his fellow thugs. The criminals would have got away with it, had the victim not been a British national . As it was , the politico was arrested, released on bail, and within months, restored to his old job as the Chairman of the Tangalle PS (the effect this would have had on eyewitnesses who are locals are all too easy to imagine) . On 11 th July 2013, the Chief Government whip Dinesh Gunawardane informed the parliament that Mr. Shaikhs partner Victoria Tkacheva was neither raped nor sexually abused. When he was challenged, he washed his hands of that atrocious lie by saying, I am presenting the answer given to me by the Ministry of Defence, based on police records submitted to them . Had it not been for the fact that Mahinda Rajapaksa was not desperate to avoid a boycott of the 2013 Hambantota Commonwealth , murdering-raping politico may not have been charged at all . Gotabhaya Rajapaksas defence would be that rapes and murders happen everywhere , including in his adopted motherland, the USA . They do. The difference was that the main suspect was a favoured acolyte of the ruling family , and political influence was used to delay and if not subvert justice. In the paradise of discipline that was Rajapaksa-Sri Lanka, criminal politicians were not the exception but the norm. On 8 th October 2011, in Kolonnawa , a suburb o f Colombo, a shooting war erupted when Duminda Silva, the monitoring MP of Defence Ministry , and his entourage a ttacked the entourage of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra , a presidential advisor. Mr. Premachandra and several others were shot to death . Subsequent investigations revealed that Duminda Silvas entourage included a well known criminal boss known as Dematagoda Chaminda . The international factors that played a key role in the Khuram Shaikh case were absent in the Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra case. It would take a governmental change and the restoration of judicial independence for Duminda Silva to be convicted or murder. Then there was the case of planter Nihal Perera murdered on 5 th July 2013. He had fallen foul of a local UPFA politico, Anil Dhammika Wijsesinghe , the former chairman of the Deraniyagala PS. slashing the throat of the area Divisional Secretary after he refused to allocate two acres of land . Mr. Perera had opposed the politicos tree-felling racket. He was once beaten up in his own bungalow, probably as a warning. Later he was he was abducted, beaten with clubs before being slashed with swords . That was how discipline reigned in the lost Rajapaksa paradise, the one Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is promising to restore. The Guilty and the Innocent When it comes to conjuring enemies, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is peerless. At a defence seminar in September 2013, he produced a stable-full of them. There were Tamil Extremists (International) who want the division of Sri Lanka and the establishment of a separate state for Tamil Eelam , and Tamil Extremists (National) who might empower radical elements to once again attempt to take up arms against the state in the name of separation . Then come Left wing Extremists , who were involved in previous insurgencies. Some of these groups are trying to reorganise within Sri Lanka and mobilise people to once again take up extreme left wing causes. No enemy-list would be complete without Islamic Extremists . Then comes the sui generis Gota -touch, with C riminal E xtremists , M edia E xtremists (who portray demands by sections of the public to showcase the country in a negative light ), A nti-democratic E xtremists (who go beyond peaceful demonstrations and engage in violent protest, incite violence or act in other undemocratic ways ) and I rresponsible E xtremists (who dont exercise their democratic freedoms with responsibility ). Finally theres that hardy perennial, Western E xtremists ( There is a possibility that some western powers wish to have a Sri Lankan Government that is closely aligned with their interests. They may seek to influence Sri Lankas destiny so that it cannot pursue the independent course it is following at present ) . Naturally the likes of BBS were not included in the list. They, as per Gotabhaya -vision, are not extremists, but monks engaged in a nationally important task. Mr. Rajapaksa was the Chief Guest at the opening of Meth Sevana , the Buddhist Leadership Academy of the BBS. Less than a month later, a monk-led mob torched the Fashion Bug outlet in Pepiliyana . That was not terrorism, but probably a nationally important task. Haitha Madawala , a UPFA member of the Kelaniya PS? On January 5 th 2013, he was shot dead outside his house. His murderers rode a motorcy cle, wore hoods, and got away. An attempt had been made to kill him one year previously, on January 7 th 2012. Subsequent to that attempt, Mr. Madawala fingered Mervyn Silva, a key Rajapaksa acolyte, and said that a murder contract has been given to notorious underworld operatives Roshantha of Hikkaduwa an d Majeed of Maligawatte ... Not a case of Criminal Extremism . In 2013, Rohitha Rajapaksa hammered a referee at a rugby match in full view of spectators . Young Rohitha was incensed because his side lost th e match. There was talk of an investigation, but nothing happened. Not a case of Irresponsible Extremism . June 26 th 2012, a BBS mob surrounded the Ministry of Buddha Sasana demanding that the Minister cracks down on a rival Buddhist who insulted Buddhism within two weeks. On January 21 st , 2013, another BBS mob stormed a tourist hotel in Beruwala , where a private party was in progress, alleging that the hotel possessed a Buddha Bar. Not cases of Anti-democratic Extremism . In June 2013 Last month an MOU was signed for the establishment of a university in Kaththankudi , as part of the Mahinda Chinthanaya : The founding of the first University for Ulamas is to be funded by Saudi Arabia. GCE A/L qualified Moulavy graduates from Mathrasas will be admitted for studies at the university . The new university will turn out g raduates who adhere to Wahabism . Nothing to do with Islamic Extremism . In April 2014, the editor-in-chief of Lakbima was interrogated by the CID. His crime was carrying a funny caption over a picture of the wife of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa . .. Ayoma Rajapaksa was depicted buying goods at the New Year fair of the Civil Defence Department. The caption of the photo was. They arent fake money arent they? The newspaper apologised the very next day, but to no avail. The sub-editor, directly responsible for the caption, was dismissed from the job . Subsequently the editor himself tended his resignation. That was a case of Media Extremism . The aged grandmother of Dhanuna Tilakaratne , the then son-in-law of Gen. Sarath Fonseka , was dragged to the CID. Her crime offering her fugitive grandson shelter for one night. What a purveyor of Irresponsible Extremism . In May 2013, Sagarica Delgoda , the Resident Representative of the Friedrich Neumann Stiftung (FNS), was tken to the Fourth Floor and grilled for 8 hours over links between the FNS and the UNP. The FNS has had links with both the major parties, openly, for decades. But in Rajapaksa Sri Lanka, that probably came under Western Extremism . That was how the Rajapaksa paradise worked in practice - freedom for themselves and their acolytes; repression masquerading as discipline for everyone else. Impunity for the few and helplessness for the many that was the state Gotabhaya Rajapaksa recalls with such fondness and promises to bring back . Anti-factual Realities In a recent interview, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa reiterates the importance of stability. A stable country is of paramount importance. It is fundamental to everything. Stability is very important. We have to ensure that there is a disciplined, stable and secure initial base for development. No investor, be it local or foreign, will invest if there is no stability. So how did this haven of stability work in practice? According to Fitch Ratings, post-war Sri Lanka was r emarkably unsuccessful in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI); the average net FDI since 2009 is a miniscule 1.2% of GDP. This is low in comparison with most regional peers and has fuelled a reliance on debt-creating capital.. This has kept the external debt burden at 57% of GDP which is much higher than all other emerging Asian markets, except Mongolia . In 2013, The ILO warned that Sri Lankas income inequality wa s on the rise. This was confirmed by the governments own statistics. Minister Sarath Amunugama revealed in parliament that the richest 20% of the country account for 54.1% of the national income while the bottom 20% receive just 4.5% . According to the ILOs Asia Pacific Labour Market Update of April 2013, in Sri Lanka youth unemployment rate was more than four times the overall unemployment rate. Meanwhile, the 2013 budget gave a 300% tax break to super racing cars. Th e 2014 budget gave tax relief to d esigner pens, ties and bows and other branded consumer items. So much for pro-people economics. Ironically, this past is unlikely to be a bar to Gotabhaya Rajapaksas overweening ambition to sit in the presidential seat because m any an anti-Rajapaksa Lankan would find it next to impossible to summon any enthusiasm for the alternative. The UNPs four years in office have been a time of unintelligent governance. Max Weber defined politics as a strong and slow boring of hard boards, and opined that being a politician requires passion and perspective. The UNP lacks both. It public image is a disastrous combination of venality, inertia, and tedium. Its actions and inactions have made a mockery of the hopes of 2015 and given good governance a bad name. The UNPs unique capacity to simultaneously kindle teeth-grinding irritation and jaw-aching boredom could keep a sizeable segment of the anti-Rajapaksa voters away from the polling booth. Unfortunately for Lankan democracy, such non-voting would be a form of voting. It could ensure a Rajapaksa victory, as happened at the at the local government election of 2018. Mr. Sirisenas shenanigans constitute a major blessing for the Rajapaksas. The President wants to hang drug offenders to prove he is tough on crime. He tries to trade on patriotism. He dreams of rolling back the democratic reforms he himself pioneered. For instance, his remarks indicate that the independent commissions he now wants are the same sort of independent commissions Mahinda Rajapaksa created via the 18 th Amendment commissions which exist to approve whatever the president wants, and are independent only where slavery is freedom, truth are lies and war is peace. The main obstacles to Gotabhaya Rajapaksas presidential ambition are twofold. First is inter-familial rivalry. Chamal Rajapaksa has expressed his own readiness to be the SLPPs presidential candidate. Basil Rajapaksa is said to be evading the issue. Even if that problem is ironed out, there is the far more serious issue of Gotabhaya Rajapaksas US citizenship. It would be a case of poetic justice if the man who portrays himself as Sri Lankas supreme patriot finds himself barred from the presidential race because he took early retirement from the army while the country was still at war and sought greener pastures in the American empire. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement Malian soldier wounded in firefight with German allies Berlin, Feb 17 (AFP) Feb 17, 2019 A Malian soldier was seriously wounded during a night-time exchange of fire with German troops serving as UN peacekeepers in the west African nation, the German army said Sunday. The incident took place late Saturday as the German soldiers were returning from having recovered a troop transport vehicle 50 kilometres (31 miles) from their base in Gao, western Mali, said a statement from the Bundeswehr (German army). "A German convoy came under fire in the dark, the situation was unclear," a spokesman for army operations command in Potsdam told AFP. The German soldiers returned fire, before returning safely to camp. "According to current information, it only later became clear that it must have been an exchange of fire between the Malian defence forces and the German troops," the Bundeswehr said in its statement. One Malian soldier was wounded and taken to a French field hospital by the German forces, the army said. He "remains in a life-threatening condition", the statement added. Around 1,000 German soldiers are present in Mali as part of the United Nations stabilisation mission known as MINUSMA. Some 15,000 peacekeepers have been on the ground since a peace accord was signed in 2015 between the Bamako government and armed groups, following a 2012 Islamist uprising in the country's north. Five civilians killed in Boko Haram clash with troops Kano, Nigeria, Feb 17 (AFP) Feb 17, 2019 Five civilians were killed in fighting between government troops and Boko Haram fighters in northeastern Nigeria, locals and civilian militia said Sunday. The deaths happened in the town of Buni Yadi, in Yobe state, on Saturday, in an attack that the military said also killed five jihadists and four soldiers. Army spokesman Sagir Musa said five rebel fighters "met their Waterloo" as they attempted to overrun a military base at about 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Saturday. At about the same time, there were attacks on military positions in Gajibo and Gajiganna, north of the Borno state capital Maiduguri, security sources in the city said. In Buni Yadi, local resident Aisami Lawan told AFP: "The attackers came around 5:30 pm. The fighting lasted more than two hours... "A stray projectile hit one of the houses nearby, killing all five occupants. Eleven people were also injured from stray bullets and shrapnel." The five dead were buried on Sunday morning, he added. A member of the Civilian Joint Task Force militia assisting the military with security confirmed the account and said the Boko Haram fighters were killed after the attack. "When the terrorists turned back, a detachment of CJTF was waiting and laid ambush to them," he added. "An officer and three soldiers have lost their lives during the encounter," he said, adding that five others were wounded. Musa said the heavily armed militants were in four gun trucks and two armoured vehicles. Troops seized weapons and ammunition, he added. The military base in Buni Yadi has been targeted before in the conflict. In January, two military sources told AFP the Islamic State-allied faction of Boko Haram killed four soldiers and were repelled after air support was called in. In recent months a wave of attacks have hit the Buni Yadi area, which is near the border with Borno state -- the epicentre of fighting since 2009. Most of the attacks on military positions and troops have been blamed on or claimed by the self-styled Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015 on a promise to defeat the Islamist militants, maintains that the group is "technically defeated". Buni Yadi was the scene of one of Boko Haram's most notorious attacks, when fighters loyal to long-time leader Abubakar Shekau stormed a boys' boarding school in February 2014. More than 40 students were killed as they slept. Five Boko Haram, four soldiers killed in NE Nigeria: army Lagos, Feb 17 (AFP) Feb 17, 2019 Five Boko Haram fighters and four soldiers were killed in fighting in northeast Nigeria, the military said on Sunday, in the latest clashes between troops and jihadists. Army spokesman Sagir Musa said five rebel fighters "met their Waterloo" as they attempted to overrun a military base in Buni Yadi, in Yobe state, at about 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Saturday. "An officer and three soldiers have lost their lives during the encounter. While five soldiers were wounded are stable and reciving treatment in the Brigade Field Ambulance," he added. Musa said the heavily armed militants were in four gun trucks and two armoured vehicles. Troops seized weapons and ammunition, he added. The military base in Buni Yadi has been targeted before in the conflict. In January, two military sources told AFP the Islamic State-allied faction of Boko Haram killed four soldiers and were repelled after air support was called in. In recent months there have been a wave of attacks in the buni Yadi area, which is near the border with Borno state -- the epicentre of fighting since 2009. Most of the attacks on military positions and troops have been blamed on or claimed by the self-styled Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015 on a promise to defeat the Islamist militants, maintains the group is "technically defeated". Buni Yadi was the scene of one of Boko Haram's most notorious attacks, when fighters loyal to long-time leader Abubakar Shekau stormed a boys' boarding school in February 2014. More than 40 students were killed as they slept. Saudi agrees joint venture with French firm to boost navy Abu Dhabi, Feb 17 (AFP) Feb 17, 2019 Saudi Arabia's state arms producer and a French government-majority firm signed an agreement Sunday on a joint venture to boost the kingdom's navy, amid calls to halt weapons sales to Riyadh over it role in Yemen. The memorandum of understanding between Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and France's Naval Group is aimed at providing the oil-rich Gulf state's navy with "state-of-the-art systems", a statement said. "Through design, construction, and maintenance activities, the joint venture will contribute significantly to further enhancing the capabilities and readiness of our Royal Saudi Naval Forces," SAMI boss Andreas Schwer said. A spokeswoman for Naval Group -- which is owned by the French state and French multinational giant Thales -- refused to give any more details. French lawmakers and rights groups have repeatedly called on France's government to suspend all arms deals to Riyadh because of the war in Yemen, where some 10,000 people have been killed since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015. Riyadh is battling on the side of the internationally recognised government against Iran-aligned Huthi rebels, in a conflict that has seen all sides accused of potential war crimes. The US House of Representatives this week voted overwhelmingly to end American involvement in Saudi Arabia's war effort in neighbouring Yemen, dealing a rebuke to President Donald Trump and his alliance with the kingdom. France, one of the world's biggest arms exporters, has sold equipment to Riyadh and fellow coalition member the UAE -- notably Caesar artillery guns and ammunition, sniper rifles and armoured vehicles. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has been one of the world's top arms buyers for the past several years. But in 2017, the kingdom's Public Investment Fund set up SAMI to manufacture arms locally with the fund expecting it to become one of the world's top 25 defence companies by 2030. Naval Group -- which was previously called DCNS -- has been embroiled in a long-running graft scandal over the 2002 sale of two Scorpene submarines to Malaysia for $1.2 billion. The submarine maker is alleged to have paid more than 114 million euros ($128 million) in kickbacks to a shell company linked to a close associate of ousted Malaysian leader Najib Razak. A French investigation launched in 2010 has already led to four French executives involved in the deal being charged. They all deny wrongdoing. mah/oh/dm/del US Pentagon chief said he felt 'welcomed' on European tour Washington, Feb 17 (AFP) Feb 17, 2019 Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan on Saturday said he felt "very welcomed" during his trip this week to NATO headquarters in Brussels and a major security conference in Germany. "My takeaway is that I felt very welcomed and it was a very inclusive environment," Shanahan said, speaking aboard the airplane bringing him home from a three-day international security conference in Munich. "I was expecting something different. I was expecting them to be a bit more stand-offish," he said, a reference to criticism from allies over President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to pull some 2,000 US troops from Syria. "The type of dialog and discourse was very frank. I like those types of meetings," he said. He said that the Pentagon, in coordination with the State Department, will look at the issues raised by Europeans "so we can resolve these constraints and be able to answer a number of the questions... so we can do more planning." Shanahan on Friday struggled to convince skeptical allies in the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group to help secure Syria once US soldiers pull out. As the end neared for IS proto-state that once controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria, 13 defense ministers of the anti-IS coalition met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Shanahan pledged ongoing backing for the fight -- but kept allies guessing as to how that would be achieved once US forces pull out, and won no solid pledges of support. Shanahan pledged that the US would "maintain our counterterrorism capabilities in the region" and "continue to support our local partners' ability to stand up to the remnants of (IS)" -- but gave no details about how this would be done. Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. The New Zealand dollar started the week on the front foot as investors were buoyed by positive noises coming from the latest round of trade talks between the US and China. The kiwi traded at 68.58 US cents as at 8am in Wellington from 68.63 cents on Friday in New York, up from 68.26 cents in Asia last week. The trade-weighted index was at 74.43 from 74.48 last week. US President Donald Trump said the trade talks went extremely well after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer visited Beijing last week. Talks will continue this week, and Trump has indicated a willingness to delay imposing new tariffs on Chinese products that are scheduled to come into effect in early March. Investor sentiment was also buoyed by US policymakers averting another Federal government shutdown after Trump signed a budget bill. However, at the same time, he declared a national emergency to direct funds to build a wall on the Mexican border, which was a major stumbling block in reaching a deal. "Positive US-China trade headlines have buoyed risk sentiment with kiwi coming along for the ride," ANZ Bank New Zealand economists Sandeep Parekh and Miles Workman said in a note. "We continue to expect recent strength in kiwi to retrace in time." Local data today include the Business New Zealand performance of services index and Statistics New Zealand's December accommodation survey. Local tourism data is under greater scrutiny at the moment after China's Global Times reported dwindling tourist appetite to travel to New Zealand. Bank of New Zealand senior markets strategist Jason Wong said that deterioration hadn't grabbed the attention of investors yet, despite its potential to damage the local economy if China pulls back on trade and restricts access to New Zealand exporters. Late Friday, the Ministry for Primary Industry said New Zealand's primary products continue to clear the border in China as usual, despite reports of retaliatory hold-ups at Chinese ports in reaction to the Government Communications Security Bureau blocking telecommunications firm Huawei from partnering with local company Spark. New Zealand has an extensive trading relationship with China, valued at more than $28 billion a year. As with any large trading relationship, temporary technical trade issues can occur from time to time with products at the border, MPI said. The kiwi decreased to 4.6415 Chinese yuan from 4.6449 yuan last week and traded at 95.96 Australian cents from 96.00 cents. The local currency was little changed at 60.73 euro cents from 60.80 cents on Friday in New York and decreased to 53.06 British pence from 50.23 pence. It traded at 75.73 yen from 75.82 yen last week. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. 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Related News: 25th June 2021 Morning Report Westpac Banking Corporation (NZX: WBC) Confirms It Is Retaining Westpac New Zealand Ltd 24th June 2021 Morning Report 23rd June 2021 Morning Report 22nd June 2021 Morning Report 21st June 2021 Morning Report Infratil Limited (NZX: IFT) TPW Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Trustpower Limited (NZX: TPW) Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Mercury NZ Limited (NZX: MCY) Agrees to Acquire Trustpower's Retail Business Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) $250m Equity Raise to Fund Wellington Acquisitions Press Release February 17, 2019 COALITION CARING FOR SENIOR CITIZENS ENDORSES ANGARA'S REELECTION BID An umbrella organization promoting the interest of senior citizens has endorsed the reelection bid of Senator Sonny Angara, whom it described as a "true champion" of the rights and welfare of the Filipino elderly in the Senate. In a statement of support, the Coalition of Services of the Elderly Inc. (COSE) said that for many years, Angara "has proven himself to be an ally of the elderly and has assured us that he will continue to work to produce more meaningful measures not just for the benefit of all senior citizens but for every Filipino as well." It added: "As we push for a universal social pension in the next Congress, Senator Sonny Angara will be instrumental in this endeavor. Therefore, the Coalition of Services of the Elderly Inc. wholeheartedly gives our support to the young legislator." COSE is comprised of 450 member-organizations across the country dedicated to advancing the welfare of senior citizens. Angara expressed gratitude to COSE for endorsing his candidacy, as he vowed to continue forwarding the interest and welfare of millions of Filipino senior citizens if he gets elected for another six-year term. "Nakatataba po ng puso ang suporta at tiwala ng ating mga nakatatanda. Bilang ganti, makakaasa po kayo na patuloy kong isusulong ang mga karapatan at kapakanan ng ating mga minamahal na senior citizen," said the lawmaker, who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara." Angara, one of the authors of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act and the Universal Social Pension bill, is the son of the late Senate President Edgardo Angara, who is known as the "Father of the Senior Citizens Law" which grants 20 percent discount and other benefits to seniors. According to COSE, the senator "has truly lived up to the legacy of his father--the original champion of the elderly and the author of the original Senior Citizens Act of 1993." The young Angara himself has authored and sponsored several measures which have become laws of the land. Among these are Republic Act 10868 or the Centenarians Act that provides for cash gifts to 100-year-old Filipinos and RA 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 which provides for the 12-percent value-added tax exemption and social pension for indigent senior citizens. In the recent Congress, Angara filed Senate Bill 1865 which seeks to double the amount of social pension from P500 to P1,000 and expand the coverage to include all poor senior citizens and those without pension. He also filed SB 1012 providing stiffer penalties and strengthened support for elderly victims of abuse. The senator also authored SB 2159 creating the National Commission of Senior Citizens, a government agency devoted to attending to the needs and concerns of senior citizens. News Fire at martial arts centre in China kills 18 There were 34 boarding students on the premises when the fire broke out, according to government staff quoted by Beijing Toutiao News. It was unclear what caused the fire, which injured 16 people, four of whom were in serious condition. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- On the basis of a recently published report by Transparency Market Research, titled, 'Raisins Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2018-2026', the overall revenue generated from the raisins market is anticipated to be valued at somewhere around US$ 2,177.1 Mn in 2018, which is expected to rise at a CAGR of 5.4% throughout the forecast period (2018-2026). Over the last few decades, the raisins market has gone through remarkable changes, owing to the wide application areas of raisins in various food and bakery products. The boom in the bakery industry, and rapidly increasing hotels and restaurants all over the globe, are also fueling the demand for raisins. Increasing health consciousness among the population is also contributing to the growth of the raisins market, due to their multiple health benefits. In the global raisins market, Europe holds a prominent share, i.e. 35% value share of the consumption of raisins. On the other hand, Europe has the least share in the production of raisins in the world. On the basis of our research, the raisins market is expected to grow at a high growth rate in the Asia Pacific region, owing to factors such as rapid industrialization and increasing global presence of the players involved in the food industry, which has made the raisins market more competitive. The increasing demand for dried fruits as a healthy snacking option among health-conscious population is also increasing the demand for raisins in the global dried fruits market. Many food manufacturers and food service providers are very keen on using raisins in their food products and recipes. With the increasing demand for raisins from various food industry sectors, it can be expected that, the demand for raisins will increase over the forecast period. Get PDF Sample For More Information @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=60213 Busy life schedules and the increasing number of working women have broadly increased the demand for convenient food products in the global food and beverage market. Customers seek convenient food products that are easy to consume and also fulfil their nutritional needs. In order to cater to the demand for convenient food products with high nutritional value, manufacturers are incorporating raisins to their ready-to-eat products as a healthy ingredient. Raisins are added in variable quantities depending on the end food product. With the increasing awareness about health among the population, the functional food market is booming due to the rising demand from all age segment customers. People seek food products that not only fulfill their nutritional needs but also have importance in the prevention of certain diseases because they possess some curing properties. Food items that are fulfilling the demand contain phytochemicals. Among phytochemicals, phenolic compounds are considered as very important antioxidants. Read Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/raisins-market.html Raisins are a rich source of catechins, resveratrol, isoflavones (daidzein and genestein), beta-carotenes, Crypto-xanthin-, and Lutein-zeaxanthina, which are considered as potent antioxidants. Raisins are also found to be helpful for cancer patients. According to data published in 2013, Corinthian raisins and sultanas are effective in controlling cell proliferation as far as cancerous cells are concerned. TMR has profiled some of the prominent companies active in the raisins market, such as Bergin Fruit and Nut Company Inc., Sun-Maid Growers of California, Sunbeam Foods Pty Ltd., Geobres Nemean Currants and Sultana Raisins S.A., Decas Cranberry Products, Inc., Kiantama Oy , Sunsweet Growers Inc., Citadelle Maple Syrup Producers' Cooperative, Traina Foods, Inc., Dole Food Company, Inc., Lion Raisins Inc., JAB Dried Fruit Products (Pty) Ltd, N. Sunshine Raisin Corporation, Montagu Dried Fruit And Nuts (Pty) Ltd, Vkc Nuts Private Limited, Viva Bella Orchards Inc. and others. This report comprises detailed insights of the current market drivers, trends, and opportunities that are driving the raisins market over the forecast period. The report also consists of the competitive landscape of many key players involved in the raisins market in a comprehensive and comparative dashboard. In addition, the latter part of the report also consists of recent developments, key strategies, and key offerings in the market. Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- HTF MI recently introduced Global Online Reputation Management Software Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are BirdEye, Podium, ReviewTrackers, Yotpo, Broadly, LocalClarity, Hootsuite. Request Sample of Global Online Reputation Management Software Market Report 2019 @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1633888-global-online-reputation-management-software-market This report studies the Global Online Reputation Management Software market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Global Online Reputation Management Software market by companies, region, type and end-use industry. Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " Online Reputation Management Software Market by Type (, Type Segmentation (On-Premises, Cloud Based), Industry Segmentation (Large Enterprised, SMEs) & Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) Segmentation), by End-Users/Application, Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study. In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1633888-global-online-reputation-management-software-market Competitive Analysis: The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as BirdEye, Podium, ReviewTrackers, Yotpo, Broadly, LocalClarity, Hootsuite. Includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc. Market Segments: The Global Online Reputation Management Software Market has been divided into type, application, and region. On The Basis Of Type: Type Segmentation (On-Premises, Cloud Based ), Industry Segmentation (Large Enterprised, SMEs ) & Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) Segmentation. On The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of Online Reputation Management Software in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering - North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Buy Single User License of ?Global Online Reputation Management Software Market Report 2019 @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1633888 Have a look at some extracts from Table of Content Introduction about Global Online Reputation Management Software Global Online Reputation Management Software Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 Online Reputation Management Software Market by Application/End Users Global Online Reputation Management Software Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users Global Online Reputation Management Software Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) Online Reputation Management Software Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application Online Reputation Management Software (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. Global Online Reputation Management Software Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include , Type Segmentation (On-Premises, Cloud Based ), Industry Segmentation (Large Enterprised, SMEs ) & Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) Segmentation Online Reputation Management Software Manufacturing Cost Analysis Online Reputation Management Software Key Raw Materials Analysis Online Reputation Management Software Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of Contents Browse for Full Report at: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1633888-global-online-reputation-management-software-market Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Hand hygiene monitoring systems are used to record and maintain the hand hygiene of caretakers in hospitals and clinics. According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, 8% of infectious diseases are spread through unwashed hands. Our hands carry plethora of germs and micro-organisms responsible for infections and are the convenient way to pass it to another person who comes in contact. Individuals tend to ingest these disease causing micro-organisms in their systems without even realizing it. Hand hygiene is important to eliminate the risk of infections, which consequently reduces the cost of healthcare expenditure. Hand hygiene is particularly vital in healthcare facilities, clinics and hospitals. The WHO and many other organizations have issued guidelines and recommendations to improve hand hygiene on medical sites and advised to use hand hygiene monitoring systems. After numerous management efforts, hygiene monitoring systems are introduced, which sends notifications and alerts to the individual for washing the hands and maintaining the hygiene. Hand hygiene monitoring system can be a badge or wrist band worn by the healthcare worker with a sensor at the patient bed, which detects the level of hygiene. Some hand hygiene monitoring systems have sensors or biometrics attached to the soap and sanitizer dispenser, which can determine if the caretaker has washed their hands before and after the interaction with the patient. Request For Sample @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2277 The hand hygiene monitoring system generates and compiles the performance data of all the caretakers to later take actions if missed washing hands. Hand hygiene monitoring systems are available with different features such as real-time activity, historical data, statistical representation, etc. Hand Hygiene Monitoring System Market: Drivers and Restraints Caretakers in hospitals and medical facilities are often preoccupied with a lot of work load and multitasking. The demand for hand hygiene monitoring systems is increasing because of their systematic and accurate control, significant reduction in spread of infection, easy implementation and cost effectiveness. The implementation of hand hygiene monitoring systems has increased, almost more than five folds reducing the number of cases of infectious diseases. Patient satisfaction and trust are the underlining benefits of hand hygiene monitoring systems. Hand Hygiene Monitoring System Market: Overview The global hand hygiene monitoring system market is expected to foresee exponential growth owing to increasing implementation of hand hygiene monitoring systems by hospitals and healthcare units. Recommendations and guidelines from government units and safety precautions laid by healthcare organisations subtly pressurize healthcare clinics and hospitals to implement hand hygiene monitoring systems. The number of players entering the hand hygiene monitoring systems market has increased, with advanced and latest technologies and features. Request For Brochure @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2277 The rising demand for hand hygiene monitoring systems is expected to boost the growth of the hand hygiene monitoring systems market. The hospitals segment is expected to account high CAGR in the hand hygiene monitoring system market over the forecast period. The requirement for hand hygiene monitoring systems is all around the globe but the market is dependent on the countries willing to adopt the systems. Hand Hygiene Monitoring System Market: Regional Outlook In terms of geography, the global hand hygiene monitoring system market is segmented into eight regions including North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia- Pacific excluding China & Japan (APECJ), China, Japan, Middle-East & Africa, and Latin America. North America is expected to be the most dominating market for hand hygiene monitoring system market due to the rise in per capita expenditure on healthcare and technological advancements. Western Europe is expected to witness fast growth in the global hand hygiene monitoring system market The Asia Pacific excluding China and Japan hand hygiene monitoring system market is expected to account high growth over the forecast period due to growing demand from hospitals and clinics. China and Japan are expected to gain significant shares in the global hand hygiene monitoring system market due to increase in demand as well as number of manufactures. Report Analysis @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2277/hand-hygiene-monitoring-system-market Hand Hygiene Monitoring System Market: Key Players Examples of some of the key players operating in the global hand hygiene monitoring system market are Halma plc, Yamabiko Corporation, BioVigil Healthcare Systems, Inc., Deb Group Ltd., GOJO Industries, Inc., HandGiene Corp., Ecolab, Midmark Corporation, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., and AiRISTA Flow (Halyard Health), among others. Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- This report focuses on Pygeum Bark Africanum P.E volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall Pygeum Bark Africanum P.E market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect. Regionally, this report focuses on several key regions: North America, Europe, China and Japan. At company level, this report focuses on the production capacity, ex-factory price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer covered in this report. Request a Sample of this report: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/964905/global-pygeum-bark-africanum-p-e-market The following manufacturers are covered: Naturex Euromed Maypro Alchem Natural Field Xi'an Herbking Naturactive ... Segment by Regions North America Europe China Japan Checkout link: https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/2b6493c009bf3b117707e0dab9f65e2b,0,1,Global%20Pygeum%20Bark%20Africanum%20P.E%20Market%20Share%20and%20Growth%202019 Regions Covered in the Global Pygeum Bark Africanum P.E 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) Ask our Expert if You Have a Query at: enquiry@qyresearch.com Strategic Points Covered in TOC: Chapter 1:Introduction, market driving force product scope, market risk, market overview, and market opportunities of the global Pygeum Bark Africanum P.E market Chapter 2:Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the global Pygeum Bark Africanum P.E market which consists of its revenue, sales, and price of the products Chapter 3:Displaying the competitive nature among key manufacturers, with market share, revenue, and sales Chapter 4:Presenting global Pygeum Bark Africanum P.E market by regions, market share and with revenue and sales for the projected period Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions 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. A few weeks ago, the pollsters at Monmouth University asked Democrats across the country to choose between two different kinds of nominees. One was a candidate whom the voter agreed with on most issues but who might struggle to beat President Donald Trump. The other was the reverse a strong candidate with different views from those of the person being polled. It was a rout. About 56 percent preferred the more electable candidate, compared with 33 percent who picked the more ideologically in-sync candidate. The gap was even larger among women and liberal Democrats. Patrick Murray, who runs the Monmouth poll, points out that this pattern isnt normal. In previous campaigns, voters cared more about ideology than electability. I think there are two main reasons for the switch. The first, of course, is the awfulness of the Trump presidency. But the less obvious reason is important too: The differences among most of the leading Democratic presidential candidates just arent very big right now. They all favor policies to lift incomes and reduce living costs for the middle class and poor. They all favor tax increases on the rich. They all favor climate action, voting rights and expanded Medicare. Most voters understand that choosing a candidate with modestly different ideas about how to achieve these goals isnt much of a sacrifice. Advertisement So if Democrats wanted to identify their best hope for beating Trump, what would that candidate look like? Above all, it would be a candidate good at persuading Americans that he or she was on their side on their side against the forces causing the stagnation of American living standards. More specifically, this candidate would be someone who could convince swing voters of this allegiance. Swing voters still exist. Enough Americans switched from backing Barack Obama in 2012 to Donald Trump in 2016 to House Democrats in 2018 to help decide those elections. I understand why some Democratic activists are instead drawn to the idea of victory through turnout: It offers the promise of avoiding any political compromise. The problem is, there are virtually no examples of Democrats winning close races without emphasizing persuasion. The 2018 attempts, in Florida, Georgia and Texas, all fell short. Yet progressives shouldnt despair because swing voters are quite progressive, especially on economic issues. For years, weve been hearing about a kind of fantasy swing voter, conjured by political pundits and corporate chieftains, who is socially liberal and economically conservative (as many pundits and chieftains are). The actual swing voter leans decidedly left on economics, in favor of tax increases on the rich, opposed to Medicare cuts and skeptical of big business. Still, these swing voters dont think of themselves as radical. They are typically patriotic and religious. Many think of themselves as moderate and, strange as it may sound, many thought of Trump as moderate in 2016. When Republicans can paint a Democrat as an out-of-touch elitist like they did Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore or Michael Dukakis the Republican candidate often wins these voters. When Democrats can instead come off as middle-class fighters, they tend to win. In the 2020 field, two Democrats have the strongest track record of running as middle-class fighters: Amy Klobuchar and Sherrod Brown. They are both Midwestern senators, Klobuchar (who launched her campaign Sunday) from Minnesota, Brown (who hasnt yet decided whether to run) from Ohio. They both have a populist folksiness to them. And, no, those arent racial code words. Obama also won swing voters thanks in part to populist folksiness. About the power of large corporations, Klobuchar has said, The public is at a breaking point. She talks constantly about lowering health care costs. Brown talks constantly about restoring the dignity of work. Both have also smartly avoided some ideas that play better with liberal Twitter than swing voters, like the fever dream of eliminating private health insurance. Advertisement And both of them win elections. Last year, while most Ohio Democrats were getting trounced, Brown won, by 7 percentage points. Klobuchar won her own re-election in a landslide. She even won in two of the only three House districts nationwide that flipped from Democrat to Republican last year. Shes a progressive whos found a way to connect with a wide range of people Democrats often struggle to reach, Lawrence Jacobs of the University of Minnesota told me. The Klobuchar message is: You can be both progressive and electable. Klobuchar and Brown do have weaknesses. She is battling accusations of having been a harsh boss, which seem to be a mix of sexist stereotype and some truth. Brown, as a middle-age white guy not known for rhetorical greatness, will have to show he isnt too boring to stand out in a crowded field. But if I were Trump, I would fear Klobuchar and Brown. Either would be well positioned to take back blue-collar states Trump needs, like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and maybe even Ohio and Iowa. They could also play well in the Sunbelt suburbs of Arizona, Florida and North Carolina. And if I were the other 2020 Democrats, Id be studying how Klobuchar and Brown have succeeded where so many other Democrats have been failing. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is expected to sit for a U.S. Supreme Court argument Tuesday for the first time since she underwent surgery in December to remove cancerous masses from one of her lungs. Ginsburgs presence will be a relief to liberals worried about any prospect that the 85-year-old justice might have to step down and give President Trump a third Supreme Court vacancy to fill. Ginsburg has been working from home while recovering from the operation. She missed two weeks of arguments in January -- a first for her -- but is taking part in those cases by using the briefs and transcripts, court officials have said. She attended a private conference at the court with her fellow justices on Friday, the same day that the court agreed to decide whether the Trump administration can ask about citizenship on the 2020 census. The court said in January that Ginsburgs recovery was on track and there was no evidence of remaining disease. She has already survived bouts with colon and pancreatic cancer. Advertisement The court has an abbreviated schedule this week, with only two 60-minute arguments. In the Tuesday case, the issue is whether federal agencies, such as the U.S. Postal Service, can use an administrative system set up by Congress in 2011 to challenge patents held by private parties. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was seen in public, alive and well. Conspiracy theorists still insist shes dead. Doctors discovered the growths on Ginsburgs lung through tests performed after she fell and broke three ribs. Ginsburg was discharged from the hospital Dec. 25. Ginsburg, who was nominated by President Clinton in 1993, has said on several occasions that she intends to stay in the job as long as she can do it full steam. The last time a member of the Supreme Court missed any extensive time on the bench was the 2004-05 term, when Chief Justice William Rehnquist missed 44 arguments while battling thyroid cancer. Rehnquist died in September 2005 and was replaced by John Roberts. President Donald Trump is prepared to issue the first veto of his term if Congress votes to disapprove his declaration of a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border, a top White House adviser said on Sunday. White House senior adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News Sunday that the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration. Asked if that meant Trump was ready to veto a resolution of disapproval, Miller added, Hes going to protect his national emergency declaration, guaranteed. The West Wing is digging in for fights on multiple fronts as the presidents effort to go around Congress to fund his long-promised border wall faces bipartisan criticism and multiple legal challenges. After lawmakers in both parties blocked his requests for billions of dollars to fulfill his signature campaign pledge, Trumps declared national emergency Friday shifts billions of federal dollars earmarked for military construction to the border. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told ABCs This Week that his state would sue imminently to block the order, after the American Civil Liberties Union and the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen announced Friday they were taking legal action. Advertisement Democrats are planning to introduce a resolution disapproving of the declaration once Congress returns to session and it is likely to pass both chambers. Several Republican senators are already indicating they would vote against Trump though there do not yet appear to be enough votes to override a veto by the president. The White Houses Miller insisted that Congress granted the president wide berth under the National Emergencies Act to take action. But Trumps declaration goes beyond previous emergencies in shifting money after Congress blocked his funding request for the wall, which will likely factor in legal challenges. Trump aides acknowledge that Trump cannot meet his pledge to build the wall by the time voters decide whether to grant him another term next year, but insist his base will remain by his side as long as he is not perceived to have given up the fight on the barrier. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told CBSs Face the Nation that he believes Congress needs to act to defend its powers of the purse. I do think that we should not set the terrible precedent of letting a president declare a national emergency simply as a way of getting around the congressional appropriations process, he said. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, a critic of Trumps border policies, said he would support legislation to review Trumps emergency declaration, saying, It sets a dangerous precedent. My concern is our government wasnt designed to operate by national emergency, he told CBS. Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told ABC that he believes there are enough GOP votes to prevent the supermajorities required to override a veto. Advertisement I think there are plenty of votes in the House to make sure that theres no override of the presidents veto, he said. So its going to be settled in court, well have to wait and see. One of the five San Diego police SWAT officers who fired at and wounded a gunman in Paradise Hills Thursday has been involved in four prior officer-involved fatal shootings each one found legally justified by the District Attorneys Office. The names of the officers were released Saturday by homicide unit Lt. Matt Dobbs. They are Richard Butera, a 16-year police veteran involved in four prior shootings; Jacob Castillo, a five-year veteran; Timothy Arreola, a six-year veteran; Juan Ponce, a seven-year veteran and Aziz Brou, a 12-year veteran. They and other officers surrounded a home on Altamont Court Thursday afternoon after several people reported that a man was firing a rifle outside a home. One resident called police and said her ex-boyfriend was acting strangely at her home, Dobbs said. Advertisement Dobbs said the man fired one round from behind the house, then aimed a gun at two SWAT officers. They fired several times at him and he went back inside. Then, Dobbs said, the man came outside again and pointed a gun at another officer. Three SWAT officers shot at him, hitting him at least once. No officers were injured. Martin Girdner, 54, suffered life-threatening wounds and was in stable condition on Saturday, Dobbs said. In 2017, Butera killed a burglar who came at officers with a knife inside a Point Loma home. In 2016, Butera fatally shot another man who was armed with a knife in Hillcrest after a report that the man had been holding the knife at his boyfriends throat. In 2014, the officer, following orders to take a shot if possible, killed a man who had led police on a pursuit into Escondido while threatening to kill his driver. His arm was around the drivers head when the car came to a halt and Butera shot him. In 2013, Butera fired fatal shots at a man who appeared to be pointing a weapon at officers from behind a car door on Sea World Drive. Advertisement pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com Advertisement Twitter: @pdrepard An Escondido police officer was arrested for alleged public intoxication in Temecula earlier this week, officers confirmed Saturday. Lawrence Love, 44, was taken into custody in the wee hours of Monday morning at a business near the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Winchester Road, according to Riverside County Sheriffs Deputy Mike Vasquez. Deputies responded around 1:30 a.m. Monday to a report of a man possibly drunk in pubic and found Love intoxicated, Vasquez said. The Escondido officer was taken to the Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on suspicion of misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct involving drugs or alcohol and obstructing a peace officer, according to jail records. Advertisement Love was released on bail the same day as his arrest. Love is a 10-year veteran of the Escondido Police Department, Escondido police Lt. Mark Petersen confirmed. Peterson said the police department would not comment further, pending an investigation. Love is scheduled to be arraigned on his charges at the Murrieta Southwest Justice Center at 7:30 a.m. on April 3. The State Department said Saturday that Heather Nauert, picked by President Trump to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations but never officially nominated, has withdrawn. Nauert, State Department spokeswoman, said that the past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration. Nauert was a Fox News reporter with little foreign policy experience when she joined the State Department as spokeswoman less than two years ago. The nomination had been considered a tough sell in the Senate, where she would have faced questions about her relative lack of foreign policy experience, according to congressional aides. Another potential issue involving a nanny whom she and her husband had employed may also have been a factor in her decision to withdraw, according to one aide. That issue, first reported by Bloomberg on Saturday, centered on a foreign nanny who was legally in the U.S. but did not have legal status to work, said the aide, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Advertisement Serving in the administration for the past two years has been one of the highest honors of my life and I will always be grateful to the president, the secretary, and my colleagues at the State Department for their support, Nauert said. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said that he respected Nauerts decision and that she had performed her duties as a senior member of his team with unequalled excellence and [I] know that she will continue to be a great representative of this nation in whatever role she finds herself. The State Department said Trump would announce a nominee for the position soon. Shortly after being elected in 2017, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller stood on one of the passenger platforms for ART, the citys ambitious new $133-million all-electric bus line that cuts through a 10-mile stretch of the city. Drivers waved and cheered, Congrats to the new mayor! I voted for you! Go get em! said Keller. And then in the next breath, they would lay on the horn and give the giant ART sign the middle finger out the car window. Civic leaders had initially pitched Albuquerque Rapid Transit as a way to revitalize the citys former stretch of Route 66 and make the community a national leader in sustainable mass transit. Instead, the ART project resulted in parts of whats now Central Avenue being ripped up to host dedicated lanes for the electric buses, which are currently out of commission and have so many problems that Keller freely calls them a bit of a lemon. ART was supposed to supplement Albuquerques regular bus system by the fall of 2017 with a fleet of 20 buses. But Keller slammed the brakes on the project in January last year, barely a month after ARTs debut. Advertisement Shiny stations along the line stand dormant. Vandals have smashed ticket dispensers. Flat-screen televisions meant to alert passengers about boarding times flash a request to get rebooted. Autos cant use the bus lanes, which cyclists have claimed as their own. Its a nightmare with nothing to show for it, says Jonathan Hartshorn, a librarian at the University of New Mexico. At the ART station near campus, students regularly set up easels to draw in the middle of the unused lanes. Youd think anything is a good thing. But it isnt. Any other bigger city, there would be accountability. Keller appears to be trying. Besides scrapping the buses, the city has sued their manufacturer, Chinese company BYD Ltd., which has received over $330 million in the last decade from public agencies including Los Angeles Metro to produce battery-powered buses and other vehicles. The suit alleges breach of contract and delivery of faulty vehicles. The city has ordered 20 clean-diesel replacements from another company, but they wont be ready for 18 months. RELATED: Stalls, stops and breakdowns. Problems plague push for electric buses So for at least this year, ART stands silent. I dont know anyone whos for it, said a local restaurant owner, adding that business had plummeted by nearly 40% since Central Avenue was constricted to make way for ART stations and the dedicated bus lane. Who would be for a dud? ART has roiled Albuquerque for years. Public meetings saw citizens shout down public officials in English and Spanish over a lack of definitive answers. Opponents filed two unsuccessful lawsuits in federal court to stop the project altogether. In 2016, more than 75% of Albuquerque voters said yes to a nonbinding resolution that asked if theyd like the chance to vote in support of or opposition to ART. Advertisement It shows I wasnt just this old man screaming in front of his store, says Steve Schroeder, who spearheaded the ballot measure. It was the full city. Schroeder has owned Nob Hill Music, named after a trendy neighborhood on Central Avenue, for a decade and has been among ARTs loudest opponents. Schroeder claims hes lost 12 pounds since 2016. Thats when the federal government announced it would award Albuquerque a $75-million grant for ART and Schroeder began walking up and down Central to persuade fellow merchants to place anti-ART signs on their store windows, fences and even marquees. An Albuquerque motel gives anti-ART sentiment prominent display in 2017. (Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times) Once common, the signs remain on only one business on Central Avenue El Charritos, a restaurant on the western edge of town. A sign on a fence warns, No A.R.T. related vehicle parking under the threat of a tow truck, even though the nearest ART station is nearly half a mile away. Advertisement The genial Schroeder says he takes no joy in seeing ART fail. I dont have to rub it in, he says with a wink. ART was first proposed earlier this decade as the city saw a record number of bus passengers on its longstanding transit system. The Albuquerque City Council, with the support of then-Mayor Richard Berry, eventually applied for and received the federal grant that allowed the city to begin construction in the fall of 2016. Berry found bipartisan support for the funding thanks to New Mexicos congressional delegation. He hailed ART as a game changer, arguing it would spur development along Central Avenue, and was on hand when the first buses debuted in November 2017, just days before he left office. Advertisement Nob Hill Music in Albuquerque is run by a staunch critic of the citys controversial electric bus effort. (Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times) Six weeks later, Keller criticized Berry at a news conference, citing the problems with ART. For one thing, the BYD company (an acronym for Build Your Dreams) had delivered just 15 of 20 promised buses. Those that did arrive had axles that leaked oil and bolts that fell off doors. More importantly, the batteries remained charged for less than the 275 miles promised by BYD. A 2018 Times investigation exposed similar electric-bus problems for LA Metro. Through a representative, Berry declined to comment. Keller thought of scrapping ART altogether, but the reality is, the train had left the station already, he said. It is in the citys best interest to find a way to get it running and make the best of it for all Burquenos. Advertisement While waiting for replacement buses, Keller is considering using the dedicated bus lanes as a loading zone for Central Avenue businesses or making them available to street vendors or music festivals. That doesnt make Schroeder any happier. His website, SaveRt66.org, lists more than 50 businesses he claims have closed since construction on ART began less than three years ago. His record store has suffered, he says, with visitors complaining that GPS systems consistently tell them to bypass Central Avenue altogether because of congestion: Traffic is now reduced to one lane each way as a result of the changes wrought to design the non-running ART line. This is now, he said while ringing up a customer, the ugliest street in New Mexico. Pope Francis has defrocked former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick for soliciting sex during confession as well as other sex crimes against minors and adults, marking the most serious punishment meted out against a Catholic cardinal in modern times. McCarrick, 88, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., and highly influential figure in U.S. and international Catholic Church circles, can no longer call himself a priest, wear clerical attire or celebrate the sacraments. The decision, announced on Saturday, came five days before a Vatican summit on sex abuse and follows allegations that Francis has done little to halt the plague of priestly predators who have seriously damaged the churchs reputation. No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the church, said Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, after the ruling, adding that dismissing McCarrick from the church gave a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated. Advertisement In its announcement, the Vatican said that McCarrick had been found guilty of solicitation in the sacrament of confession and sins against the sixth commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power. The sixth commandment is against adultery, but is used here by the Vatican to mean sex outside marriage, as well as, in McCarricks case, the breaking of his vow of celibacy, said Father Tom Reese, a senior analyst at the National Catholic Reporter. The Vaticans doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, condemned McCarrick on Jan. 11 and rejected his appeal on Feb. 13, with Pope Francis personally ruling out any chance of further appeals, the Vatican said. The decision was welcomed by James Grein, the son of a family friend of McCarrick, who has told church investigators that McCarrick abused him for decades, beginning when he was 11. Today I am happy that the pope believed me, Grein said in a statement, adding he hoped McCarrick will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children. He added it was time to cleanse the church, and urged that the statute of limitations on old abuse cases be changed to allow prosecutions. Hundreds of priests, bishops and cardinals are hiding behind man-made law, he said. More than 180 New Jersey priests named as accused abusers Ordained as a priest in 1958 in New York, McCarrick rose through the ranks of the U.S. church, becoming an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1977, then archbishop of Newark, archbishop of Washington in 2000 a post he retired from in 2006 and a cardinal in 2001. He was first suspended last year after a former altar boy accused him of abuse in New York in 1971. Advertisement Despite denying the allegation, McCarrick resigned from the college of cardinals in July, the first cardinal to step down in almost a century. Since last September, he has been living at a Capuchin friary in Kansas. Further allegations followed, including Greins account and claims by a number of former seminarians that he lured trainee priests to his New Jersey beach house for sex. The imposition on former Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick of the penalty of his dismissal from the clerical state, thus prohibiting him any type of priestly ministry, underscores the gravity of his actions, the archdiocese of Washington said Saturday. Our hope and prayer is that this decision serves to help the healing process for survivors of abuse. The Vaticans decision follows renewed alarm about sex abuse in the U.S. church, which first emerged nearly 20 years ago. Advertisement Last year, prosecutors in Pennsylvania made public the names of 300 priests involved in abusing minors in previous decades, as well as evidence of cover-ups by bishops who shifted abusive priests between dioceses rather than sanction them. And in Texas last month, church leaders identified 286 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children. Church officials have said settlements were paid out decades ago following early allegations about McCarricks abusive behavior. Last August, a former papal nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, demanded Pope Francis resign, alleging that he knowingly turned a blind eye to the reports about McCarrick. Defenders of the pope have argued that McCarrick was promoted during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, even as reports of his abuse of seminarians surfaced. The accusations against Francis came as the pope last year performed an embarrassing U-turn over his dismissal of reports of widespread abuse in Chile. After accusing victims of slandering the church, he said he believed their stories and accepted the resignations of several Chilean bishops. Advertisement In a bid to end abuse and subsequent cover-ups, Francis will oversee a summit in Rome on Feb. 21-24 that brings together 115 heads of bishops conferences from around the world, as well as victims of abuse. Father Reese said the defrocking of McCarrick sends a well-timed message to bishops arriving from countries where, unlike in the U.S., abuse has not yet taken been seriously. This tells them that when an 88-year-old former cardinal is out, zero tolerance is real, he said. It hits them over the head with a two-by-four and tells them the pope takes it seriously so they should too. Kington is a special correspondent. Dear Mediator, Our condominium complex is kept up very well, but every January, some neighbors ignore the HOAs posted signs about proper disposal of Christmas trees and chuck their trees near the dumpsters. For years, the HOA begrudgingly got rid of the trees. This year, the HOA apparently has had enough. A dead tree thats rotting near my parking space is really distressing my toddler. I know who dumped it, and I think the HOA should fine him. But I dont want to start a feud with a neighbor. Stuck in Christmastime, El Cajon Dear Stuck: Advertisement Any trash thats dumped in a public area constitutes an eyesore. But a discarded Christmas tree that once sparkled with lights in a warm room and now lies outside decaying in the cold is a uniquely forlorn sight. Nearly everyone who sees this ghost of Christmas past will feel a pang of sadness. But two parties have hardened themselves to this specter so they can keep shirking the responsibility they bear for it. The first is the neighbor who, assuming he can read, knows he committed an infraction. The second is the HOA that has peremptorily decided its obligation to enforce bylaws and maintain the property has become too vexing. In conflicts like these, we borrow a restorative justice strategy based on a universal truth: If you want a transgressor to regret and repent his misconduct, bring him face to face with the person he has harmed, and let him see up close the human cost of his action. This is particularly effective when community members send a compelling message that everyone should follow the rules. You can convey this in a half-playful, half-serious manner by creating a flyer with an unforgettable image. Prop up the tree, and photograph it in all its desolation. The resulting picture can be the centerpiece of a handout titled Let This Dead Tree Rest in Peace! The flyers whimsical text should explain that an unnamed resident dumped this poor tree illegally and now, for the first time ever, a tree left abandoned in the complex has decomposed into a visual blight and a fire hazard. Advertisement Subtlety is powerful here. If you pointedly call out the guilty neighbor and the recalcitrant HOA management, you will spark the feud you are rightly avoiding. You dont have to go there. They already know theyre wrong. Post the flyer on a bulletin board in a common area. If the tree is still there after a few days, create a new flyer with the title, This Dead Tree STILL Needs to Rest in Peace! Its possible that both culpable parties will respond with excuses and justifications. If they do, stay on message and repeat as needed. Admittedly, this will entail quite a bit of work. It would take far less time and effort to get rid of the tree yourself. Advertisement But some conflicts need long-term resolution strategies to prevent them from recurring. An orchestrated campaign of amiable but persistent communication will serve notice to the entire complex (and its management) for years to come that orderliness and fair play are coins of your realm. And the best part is the lesson this will offer to your child and the other neighbor children. They probably dont understand all the nuances of HOA bylaws and enforcement. But they know this Christmas tree deserved a better fate. Watching how effective communication delivers justice will be an early and lasting tutorial in the art of problem-solving. Steven P. Dinkin is a professional mediator who has served as president of the San-Diego based National Conflict Resolution Center since 2003. Advertisement Do you have a conflict that needs a resolution? Please share your story with The Mediator via email at mediatethis@ncrconline.com or as an online submission by visiting www.ncrconline.com/MediateThis. All submissions will be kept anonymous. If you have questions, please email me at lora.cicalo@sduniontribune.com Hal Sadler had the attention of nearly everyone in the courtyard of the Neil Good Day Center on Tuesday morning. Im the San Diego Sock Man, he said as heads turned. Im giving out 140 pairs of socks. Im not here to judge you. Im here to love you. The day center on 17th Street in East Village provides homeless people a safe place to gather, collect mail, do laundry and learn about other services. It doesnt, however, provide the much-appreciated new socks that Sadler brought, and a line quickly formed at his table. I think hes awesome, said Lawaina Graciidis, who has been homeless five years. I love socks. They help to keep yourself warm. Advertisement I appreciate it because my feet are hurting from walking all day, said Michael Pollard, homeless since 2016. Socks often top the list of items homeless people need, but Sadler hopes his gift will do more than keep some feet warm and clean. A pair of socks changed my life, said Sadler, 54, who said he overcame homelessness and drug addiction about eight years ago. The sock give-away itself is a small gesture, but Sadler said he believes its symbolic impact could have lasting effects. And he should know. Originally from Tupelo, Mississippi, Sadler had served in the Army from 1987 to 1991 and said he has problems with his legs today from the 187 parachute jumps he made in the 82nd Airborne Division. His drug use began before he enlisted and returned after his discharge, and Sadler moved in with an uncle in San Diego in 2003 with hopes of starting life over. But he couldnt kick his habit, and he soon was living on the street. In 2010, he said he had hit bottom. He remembers the day, Dec. 16, when he broke down and prayed for a change. Advertisement Two days later, he said, he was inside a public restroom near Petco Park when he was startled by a pounding on the door. He opened it and found a man who introduced himself as Ron Logan. He said, I want to give you $50, Sadler said, recalling how Logan held out a $50 bill, but then wouldnt let go. He said, Before you run this money up your arm, I want you to come to my house and clean up, Sadler said. I couldnt believe somebody showed me that kind of love. Sadler took a trolley with Logan and his wife to Imperial Beach, where the couple invited him into their condo. Advertisement Inside, he was offered use of the bathroom to wash up and given a backpack filled with clothes, underwear and socks. He looked at himself in the mirror and saw the man he used to be. I started crying, he said. I looked like my old self. But Sadler declined the couples offer to stay, admitting to himself that his addiction was strong. He returned downtown with his new backpack, which soon was stolen, along with Logans phone number. A couple of days later, he learned that Logan was looking for him, handing out $20 bills and his phone number to people enlisted in his search. Advertisement Once they reunited, Sadler took up Logans offer to move into his garage. After a week, Logan gave him money for a bus ticket to the Veterans Administration Medical Center. I felt like I was going to die, Sadler said. This man was too nice to me. Once at the hospital, Sadler said he threw his crack pipe in a trash can and has never touched another. Checking into the emergency room, someone asked if he was Hal, and Sadler realized that Logan must have arranged for him to get into a program. I got into treatment the next couple of days, and Ive been doing the right thing ever since. Advertisement Sadler learned he was eligible for benefits, including a Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher that subsidizes the Chula Vista apartment he moved into eight years ago. Sadler said Logan and his wife, who is Filipino, moved to the Philippines shortly after he got into treatment. He hasnt seen him since, but did reconnect with him on Facebook. Logan did not respond to a Facebook message this week. Sadler has one glass eye and is losing his sight to glaucoma in the other, but still drives short distances and he walks with a yellow cane to indicate his impaired vision. Despite his physical challenges, he calls himself blessed, and a few months ago he reflected on his good fortune. I just wanted to make a difference, he said. How can I mimic what happened to me? I remember when I cleaned up, how it made me feel like I was worth something. It made me feel like someone really cared about me. It gave me hope. Advertisement He remembered what it was like to put on a fresh pair of socks. When I put on that pair of socks in his house, it warmed me, he said. It had a magical effect on me. It made me want to be clean. It made me want to be different. Scott Campbell, who has been homeless off and on for two years, got a pair of socks Tuesday. Sadlers message seemed to have had an impact on him. Im very humbled, he said. All I can do is serve people first before Im served. Thats what Ive learned being out here. Advertisement Homeless advocacy groups recognize that new socks are a much-needed item for people on the street because of their comfort, hygiene and health benefits. The charity Sock it to the Homeless collects socks to distribute to shelters in New York and New Jersey, while Socks in the City collects socks for homeless in San Francisco and the Joy of Sox provides socks to Philidelphias homeless people. Toms of Maine helps people organize community sock drives around the country. The sock company Bombas has donated 15 million socks to homeless people through its 1,700 partners, including Father Joes Villages, Feeding San Diego, Jewish Family Service, Monarch School, San Diego Rescue Mission and Veterans Village of San Diego. The Sock Man of San Diego operates on a much smaller scale than those groups. Aside from a few donations from his Bible study group at Graham Memorial Presbyterian in Coronado, Sadler pays for the socks himself every couple of weeks with whatever hes saved from a monthly income of $1,127. He is open to taking donations, and he can be reached at halsadler54@gmail.com. Advertisement Homeless Playlist On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services Advertisement gary.warth@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @GaryWarthUT 760-529-4939 Nicole Havin was among those who took turns inside the head of the lion Saturday, dancing her way down Third Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter to usher in the Year of the Pig. It was an opportunity to step into a tradition that goes back more than 1,000 years, symbolizing good luck and noble opportunity. Oh, and you get to make little kids scream. That, the 19-year-old USC computer science student from East County explained, is probably the best part of being a member of the Lucky Lion Dancers, who are the heart and soul of the 37th Annual Chinese New Year Festival underway this weekend at Third and J Street downtown. Advertisement They scream, but not in a bad way. I love making them feel that excitement that the lion brings, Havin said, recalling her own time in the crowd, screeching with joy as the lion opened its mouth to gobble her up, providing a few seconds to share a wink with the performer inside. Its a transformation, she said, that led her to double major in theater. Performing the lion dance is a chance, she said, to embody the hopeful energy of the crowd, tapping into an excitement for a new year, a blank slate and wide open opportunity. I dont even know what I think about when Im the lion. Everything just kind of disappears and youre in that moment. There is so much going on that you really just have to be there, present, and go where it goes, Havin said. The blocklong festival surrounds a two-story building at 428 Third Avenue which has been the cultural home of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of San Diego, the organization that puts on the festival, since 1911. Though traditional dance and music are a big part of the party, so is food. Vendors offer a broad range of traditional street eats and, by far, the line for bao steamed buns was the longest Saturday afternoon. Luke Denly of La Mesa had no problem waiting a bit for a treat that conjures memories for his whole family. The chance to reminisce and meet friends, he said, has spurred return visits four years running. Its something my wife had in China when she was a teenager, and we both ate bao when we were there a couple of summers ago. So its something we have to have every time we come here, Denly said. Besides putting on the annual new year festival, the association also runs a moon festival in the fall and a Ching Ming Festival, where community members participate in the Chinese tradition of tombstone sweeping as a way of remembering ancestors. As is the case with lion dancing, sweeping is a way of helping the younger members of the community move through the history of their community by doing something positive out in the real world, said My My Lu, chair of this years fair. Advertisement We try to find little ways to make them feel like theyre doing something to live their tradition, Lu said. The festival continues Sunday, starting with a Lucky Lion performance at 10:30 a.m. Other events include Red Panda Acrobats at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., a kung fu presentation at 3:30 p.m. and traditional Chinese artistic performances at 4:30 p.m., the last event of the day. For more information, visit sdcny.org. Advertisement Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1850 Twitter: @paulsisson Los Angeles police are investigating a posting on social media this week that shows a camouflage-clad figure wearing a vest packed with explosives and standing menacingly in front of a Photoshopped explosion at the top of a downtown office tower. Above the terrorists head is this warning: Our promise will soon be fulfilled. The LAPD on Saturday tweeted that it is aware of the posting but has not been able to find any credible threat against buildings in our city. Nevertheless, we are taking this very seriously, police said, and are working with our federal partners to coordinate any information that will lead to the source of the post. Advertisement As a precaution, officials say they have boosted security dramatically in areas they consider vulnerable to truck and car bombs that could be detonated next to crowded terminals and sidewalks. But the threat portrayed in the posting did not rise to the level of credibility that justified a public warning over the Presidents Day weekend. As always, we encourage every Angeleno to heighten their awareness, police advised in a tweet. And if you see something, say something. Report it to iWatchLA.org or call 1-877-ATHREAT. Protecting soft targets has long been an issue in Los Angeles. For years experts have expressed special concern about the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Hollywood studios and bridges, as well as Los Angeles International Airport. In 1980, a homemade explosive was set off at the China Airlines counter at LAX. It caused damage, but no one was hurt. In 1999, there was a plot to blow up LAX at the start of the millennium. In 2002, a classified report warned that a merchant ship with 40 Al Qaeda terrorists hidden onboard was believed steaming toward Southern California. Their plan: Unload near Santa Catalina Island and then strike downtown Los Angeles. After several weeks of searching, the FBI was unable to substantiate the intelligence information it had received. Nonetheless, Catalina Island officials and merchants struggled to reduce the impact of the intelligence tip on tourism. Advertisement Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com @LouisSahagun The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration this week 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 program began as a pilot at the San Ysidro Port of Entry south of San Diego with single adults from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala being returned to Tijuana to wait for court dates in the U.S. 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. Advertisement 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 under pseudonyms in the complaint, say they fear for their lives in Tijuana. Several said they were victims of violence in Tijuana. One said he 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 said 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 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. 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. Advertisement Meanwhile, just over two weeks after U.S. officials began sending individual asylum seekers back to Tijuana while their claims are processed, the first families were returned to Mexico on Wednesday. As rain moved in over the border region, a couple, four mothers and a total of 10 children were sent back to wait at Tijuanas El Chaparral plaza, 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 or younger, according to Mexicos National Migration Institute. Asylum seekers stand in the plaza each morning to listen for their names to be called from the waiting list to ask the U.S. for protection. There were about 2,600 people on the list on Wednesday. Advertisement As word of the new policy, initially announced in December and implemented in late January, spread among those waiting to cross over the past two months, parents have worried about what would happen if they had to spend months in Tijuana while their cases were pending in the U.S. Many of Tijuanas migrant shelters are in violent areas. Several parents spoke of hearing gunshots at night outside 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. Advertisement Morrissey and Dibble write for the San Diego Union-Tribune. kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com There came a point where Angelle Mauas son refused to go to anymore support groups, and she understood why. Over time, I found out that it was about not being able to identify with the people at the groups. I completely understood because when we first went to a group, my heart dropped when we walked in because there were no other people of color or black people, she says. I am a black, single mother of a black child. My entire life, I have been programmed to make others comfortable and not be myself when I go into certain spaces. My child should not have to make others feel comfortable because of their personal phobias. As she was navigating her sons transition, she decided to start a support group for other black people and people of color who identified as LGBTQ+ and created The Gender Phluid Collective. The group, which meets in Escondido and San Diego, was created to provide a safe, affirming space for youth and adults, and their parents, families, friends and allies to talk about their experiences, find support and resources, and connect to others with similar experiences. Maua, 53, lives in Rancho Penasquitos with her son and works as an administrative officer in a research lab at UC San Diego. She took some time to talk about the support group, recognizing the need for spaces specific to people with intersecting identities, and how doing this work has taught her about love. Advertisement Q: Tell us about The Gender Phluid Collective. A: The groups started in August 2018 with the partnership of the YMCAs Our Safe Place outpatient behavioral health program for LGBTQ youth with the YMCA TAY Academy in Escondido. From there, I added another group in southeast San Diego at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library (with the help of a number of good friends). The purpose of the groups is to provide a safe, affirming, confidential space for youth 12 to 20 years old, adults 21 and older, and parents, families, and allies to talk about daily life as a person of color in society, their current issues, or just to talk to someone else that they can relate to. Q: Why is Phluid spelled with a ph instead of an f? Is there significance to this spelling? A: Yes, the ph represents balance in intersectional identities (i.e. identifying as both black and gay, and navigating both racism and homophobia), neutralizing the constant oppression, marginalization and dehumanization of folks in the LGBTQIA+ community, especially our transgender, gender non-conforming, enby (non-binary) folks. Q: Whats your goal for the group? A: The goal is to hopefully get other folks in the community, especially our white counterparts, to recognize that there is a real need for spaces such as these. That doing a yearly event to check that box off on their grant application to get their funding is not enough. We are not a grant opportunity or tokens to be used on boards or at conferences to show that your agency is diverse. We are much more than a box to check off on a list. For as long as I am able, I will continue to provide support to black people and people of color in the LGBTQIA+ community that need it. What I love about Rancho Penasquitos ... My neighborhood is quiet and has a lot of parks and places to hang out and have fun. Q: The groups Facebook page says that its a Black/POC LGBTQ+ group; why is it specific to black people and people of color? And whats the reason for distinguishing between black people and people of color? Advertisement A: These groups are specific to black folks and people of color because there is a need for support in the LGBTQIA+ community to recognize, affirm and support our black folks and those who intersect with black folks, such as the Latinx community, Asian/Pacific Islander, First Nation/indigenous/Native American folks, etc. The distinction matters so as not to exclude other folks of color, but also recognizing the needs of black folks, specifically. Q: This sounds like the distinction may be about recognizing and acknowledging intersectionality? If so, can you talk about what this is and why it matters for your group? A: Intersectionality is the most important part of these groups. The folks that attend these groups face daily discrimination, marginalization, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and much more because their identities constantly overlap and intersect. Not to mention the mental health issues some need support for, as well as our disabled community members. Some people are triple and quadruple minorities who have to deal with complex prejudices just to live and be functional in a society that is oppressive and judgmental. Q: How does the group function and operate? Advertisement A: We are donation-based organization and not affiliated with any non-profit agency. We hold monthly meetings in each of our two locations, and I do have two therapists who hold space for those who need a one-on-one session while they are there. We meet up half an hour before and eat, talk, and just vibe. The meetings are potluck-style and everyone usually brings something to share, kind of like a Sunday dinner with the family. Q: Whats been challenging about this work for you? A: Talking to cisgender (people who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth), heterosexual people about pronoun usage and explaining what transgender and non-binary means. Explaining to cis-het (cisgender-heterosexual) people that it is not your right to ask about personal information, like top or bottom surgeries, sexual questions, or personal invasive questions that you would not ask another cisgender, heterosexual person. Its rude, insensitive and ignorant. Silence is golden in some situations. Q: Whats been rewarding about this work? Advertisement A: Knowing that at the end of the day, I have helped someone in some capacity. I have connected the dots and helped others make connections to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Q: What has this work taught you about yourself? A: Love is unconditional and resilient and a force to be reckoned with. I love hard and I love for a long time, and this work has just made me fall so deeply in love with my LGBTQIA+ community even more than before. I do this because I love to help, and if my life were to fall apart now, so be it. I just know that I did the best I could do, and I did it out of love. Q: What is the best advice youve ever received? Advertisement A: Be still, listen, receive, and then help. Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you? A: I am a queer woman of color who identifies as a homo-romantic lesbian, sometimes pansexual (a sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction toward people regardless of their sexuality or gender identity), and my sexuality is fluid. This means I am only interested in a romantic relationship with a woman. For years, friends and family have tried to play cupid, and its never worked. I wonder why. Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend. Advertisement A: A weekend at the beach in Ponto or Leucadia with friends, reading, meditating, having lunch, watching the surfers, and having a bonfire at the end of the day. Advertisement Email: lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @lisadeaderick Chicago police said Saturday the investigation into the assault reported by Jussie Smollett has shifted due to information received from two brothers questioned in the case, and attorneys for the Empire actor blasted reports alleging he played a role in his own attack. Chicago police had arrested, then released the two Nigerian brothers without charges late Friday and said they were no longer suspects in the attack. We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in an emailed statement Saturday. Weve reached out to the Empire cast members attorney to request a follow-up interview. Guglielmi did not elaborate on what he meant by a shift in the case. Advertisement Smolletts attorneys later Saturday issued a statement saying the actor would continue to cooperate with police, but felt victimized by reports that he might have been involved in the attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying, the statement from attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor P. Henderson said. Smollett, who is black and gay, has said he was physically attacked by two masked men shouting racial and anti-gay slurs and This is MAGA country! He said they looped a rope around his neck before running away as he was out getting food at a Subway restaurant. He said they also poured some kind of chemical on him. On Wednesday, Chicago police picked up the brothers at OHare International Airport as they returned from Nigeria. They described them as suspects in the assault, questioned them and searched their apartment. Then, late Friday evening they released the two men without charges and said they were no longer suspects. They said they had gleaned new information from their interrogation of them. One of the men is Smolletts personal trainer who he hired to get him physically ready for a music video, the statement from Smolletts attorneys said. It is impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or would falsely claim Jussies complicity, the statement said. Police have said they were investigating the attack as a possible hate crime and considered Smollett a victim. Reports of the assault drew outrage and support for him on social media, including from U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California and TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. Advertisement Smollett gave an emotional speech during a concert in West Hollywood on Feb. 2 saying that he went ahead with the show because he couldnt let his attackers win. Smollett also gave an interview to Robin Roberts of ABC News that aired Thursday, saying that he was pissed at people who did not believe he was attacked. Ive heard that it was a date gone bad, which I also resent that narrative, he said. Im not gonna go out and get a tuna sandwich and a salad to meet somebody. Thats ridiculous. And its offensive. Earlier this week, police said reports that the attack against Smollett was a hoax are unconfirmed. Advertisement Producers of the Fox television drama have supported Smollett, saying his character on Empire, James Lyon, was not being written off the show. Police said they combed surveillance video in the heavily monitored downtown Chicago area but were unable to find any footage of the attack. Smollett turned over redacted phone records that police said were not sufficient for a criminal investigation. Swartz, Gorner and Sweeney write for the Chicago Tribune. In 2014, bass great Bob Magnusson was forced to cut back his live performances to just once a week because of his acute osteoarthritis. Now, no longer to meet his own exacting musical standards, he has stopped playing concerts altogether, although he continues to teach bass at San Diego State University and several other local colleges. Magnussons many past collaborators include jazz legends (Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, Freddie Hubbard), pop and rock stars (Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Madonna) and orchestras (the San Diego Symphony and the Las Vegas Symphony), On Sunday, Feb. 24 hell be saluted at a free, all-ages show at Dizzys. The lineup, led by bassist and SDSU grad student Mackenzie Leighton, includes Peter Sprague, Rob Thorsen, Duncan Moore, Ed Kornhauser, Tripp Sprague and Sean Hicke, plus a possible surprise guest or two. The afternoon begins with an hour for socializing, followed by the concert. Advertisement Celebrating Bob Magnusson: 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24. Dizzys, Arias Hall (behind the Musicians Association building), 1717 Morena Blvd., Bay Park. Free. (858) 270-7467. dizzysjazz.com Twitter @georgevarga george.varga@sduniontribune.com Oceansides oldest fire station, a downtown icon designed by noted architect Irving Gill, could at last be replaced under a financing plan being worked out by city officials. The city bought property on Civic Center Drive, a little more than one block away, in 2004 for $1.6 million with plans to build the new station there. The old firehouse was to become part of its next-door neighbor, the Oceanside Art Museum, which occupies the original Oceanside City Hall, also designed by Gill. But so far nothings happened, and the need for a modern fire station is growing as more and more multi-story buildings go up in neighborhoods near the pier. We have to do something, Mayor Peter Weiss said Thursday. Advertisement The new station is also needed because the existing structure is not earthquake safe, he said. Two more long-sought projects are in the works replacing the run-down restrooms and a police substation built in the 1930s near the beach band shell, and constructing a competitive aquatics center on the citys El Corazon property, which would include Oceansides first new public swimming pools since the 1950s. The new fire station and beach buildings would be constructed with up to $20 million borrowed from the citys investment portfolio, under a plan the City Council discussed Feb. 6. The loans would be repaid with money from Measure X, the half-cent sales tax approved by Oceanside voters in November. A different source of money is needed for the aquatics center, which was not one of the priorities outlined for voters in Measure X. Instead, the council proposed issuing bonds to cover the costs of the swim center. All three of the projects have been in the planning and design stages for years. Fire Station No. 1, on Pier View Way, opened in 1929 and originally housed both the citys police and fire headquarters. The police department moved out long ago, and today the building is one of eight Oceanside fire stations. Firefighters bunk in the area that was once the police departments second-story holding cells, and the Oceanside Historical Society has an office and a small museum in a corner on the first floor. City officials say the old station is ill-equipped for blazes in the six- and seven-story buildings that have popped up downtown. Advertisement A seismic retrofit would cost $5.5 million, Weiss said, and the building would still be too small to house the equipment needed to fight fires in tall buildings. The citys nearest ladder-truck is miles away at Station No. 7 in the San Luis Rey Valley, which can add minutes to response times. We are talking about public safety to the nth degree, said Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, and public safety was one of the main reasons the city put Measure X on the ballot. We are not prepared for a fire in a mid-rise building or even in an underground parking lot, Sanchez said during the councils funding discussion. When the city bought the Civic Center Drive property, a single large lot with two buildings on it, the plan was to finish construction in two to five years. However, a grant application for construction money fell through, and the city has been looking for money ever since. Advertisement Measure X appears to be the answer, both for the fire station and for a separate project that would replace the beach restrooms, a maintenance building and a police substation, all near the pier, and two separate restroom buildings elsewhere along The Strand. Designs for the restroom buildings were completed in 2011, and at the time there was talk of finishing construction in 2012. But that effort also was sidelined by the struggle to find funding. Councilman Chris Rodriguez, elected to his first term in November, said he thinks the plan to borrow construction money in advance of Measure X revenue is premature. He and a few residents who spoke at the Feb. 6 meeting said the city should wait for the projects to be reviewed by the seven-member Measure X oversight committee, which was only appointed this month.. Advertisement The projects are great, Rodriguez said, but at this point only estimates are available for construction costs and and sales tax revenue. I want to see the numbers start coming in, he said. We need to do this the right way. The half-cent sales tax takes effect April 1 and is expected to generate more than $80 million in revenue for the city over its seven-year life, according to a city staff report. The fire station and the beach restrooms project are expected to cost at least $8 million each. Advertisement Mayor Weiss, who proposed the funding plan, said those two projects were the citys highest priorities, that they should be covered by Measure X, and that the city needs to get started on them. Also, other funding sources such as development fees have come through in recent years to help pay for all the projects, Weiss said. The aquatics center, while a high priority for many residents, was not included in the public safety improvements identified in the spending plan for Measure X. Construction of the aquatics center is expected to cost more than $18 million, and the city has about half the money in hand. Detailed plans for a site next to the El Corazon Senior Center were approved almost three years ago. Advertisement However, in 2017 the City Council voted not to issue bonds for the rest of the construction money, in part because of questions about how the city could afford an estimated $1 million in annual maintenance costs for the swim center. Maintenance costs did not appear to be a concern this month, when the council unanimously supported the idea of using bond money to build the swim complex. Funding plans for each of the projects will have to return to the council for final approval. Advertisement philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @phildiehl Funding for the first phase of a three-part, $15 million project to transform Grand Avenue in Escondidos historic downtown area into a more pedestrian friendly destination has been secured. The first phase of The Grand Avenue Streetscape Improvement Project calls for the elimination of one lane of traffic along Grand in each direction between Juniper Street and Escondido Boulevard. Diagonal parking would then be added on one side of the street and possibly both sides between Broadway and Kalmia, creating roughly 100 more parking spaces than exist now. Between Maple and Kalmia, the medians would be removed and the sidewalk widened on one side of the street between Maple and Broadway. Lighting enhancements and improved pedestrian crossing would also be added. The first phase has a price tag of roughly $2.6 million, of which a bit more than half is being paid via a grant awarded to the city from the San Diego Association of Governments, the regions planning agency. Advertisement The remaining funds will be provided by the city using Transnet money that had been set aside in reserve last year to ensure adequate funding would be available for street maintenance should the gas tax have been repealed during last Novembers election. It was not, thereby freeing up the reserve funds for other uses. It is expected that it will take about a year to design the Phase 1 improvements with construction beginning thereafter, the Escondido City Council was told last week. It was almost exactly one year ago that the council endorsed what is known as the Grand Avenue Vision Plan, which was developed following various community meetings involving downtown business owners, residents and others. The initial concept for changing Grand Avenue originated roughly five years ago when the Escondido Downtown Business Association (DBA) got involved when the city was contemplating charging for parking in city lots in the area. That wasnt a popular idea, DBA President Alex MacLachlan said Thursday. We then started looking for alternative responses to that proposal, he said. It grew very slowly from there. MacLachlan said the DBA is very supportive of the vision plan and happy its got to this point. He added that additional parking along Grand is more important now than ever as the city is considering selling a large parking lot between Grand and W. Valley Parkway to make way for a condominium project. The overall vision plan includes the eventual construction of three roundabouts along Grand, the largest at the intersection of Broadway and two smaller roundabouts at Kalmia and Maple. The citys director of engineering services, Julie Procopio, told the council her department will continue to search for grants to fund the remaining phases. Advertisement There are other grants that this projects may be well-suited for, she said. The project has in a sense already begun with the removal late last year of dozens of Eucalyptus trees from the medians along Grand. I think everyone can see that with the removal of those problematic trees you can see Grand Avenue again, said Councilman Mike Morasco. Its beautiful. Its going to be great and Im really excited about the evolution of our Grand Avenue project. Councilwoman Olga Diaz also praised the way the removal of the trees has opened up the area and enabled people to see the surrounding mountains including Bottle Peak due east of Grand. Its gorgeous, she said. Advertisement Diaz also asked city staff to come to the council in the future with some ideas of how to fill vacancies that have existed, in some case for a couple decades, in a few large buildings along the street. And while not officially part of the project, plans to erect a welcoming arch over Grand Avenue at Centre City Parkway were revealed earlier this year. The arch, which is being paid for with private funds, was gifted to the city with the Grand Avenue enhancement project in mind. Advertisement jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones CITY COUNCILS CARLSBAD The Carlsbad City Council will meet in special session at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive, to discuss matters posing a threat to public services or public facilities. In regular session at 6 p.m., the council will give final approval to an ordinance creating a sidewalk and food truck vending equipment permit program. The council will also hold a hearing on changes to the appointment process of the Community Development Block Grant Citizen Participation Plan and to membership requirements for the Ad Hoc Community Development Block Grant Citizen Advisory Committee. The council is also scheduled to spend Wednesday in a facilitated leadership workshop at the Faraday Administration Center. The city of Carlsbad will hold a workshop from 6-8 p.m. March 4 at the Faraday Administration Center, 1635 Faraday Ave., to get public input on spending priorities for the fiscal year 2020 city budget. An online survey will be available for those who do not attend the workshop. Contact Roxanne Muhlmeister at (760) 602-2417. Advertisement DEL MAR A meeting to gather public input on proposed zoning amendments is set for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Del Mar Civic Center Town Hall, 1050 Camino del Mar. The proposed zoning amendments would introduce multiple-dwelling residential units as allowed uses in the North Commercial Zone (on Jimmy Durante Boulevard and San Dieguito Road) and the Professional Commercial Zone (on Camino del Mar at 9th and 8th streets). See the Notice of Preparation and Initial Study at https://bit.ly/2DCXObM. Public comments can be submitted at the meeting, or by e-mail before March 15 to Shaun McMahon at smcmahon@delmar.ca.us. ENCINITAS The Encinitas City Council is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers, 505 S. Vulcan Ave. ESCONDIDO The Escondido City Council will not hold its regularly scheduled Wednesday meeting. Escondido Mayor Paul Mac McNamara will host a series of monthly community meetings held throughout the city that are open to the public. The first meeting will be from 10-11 a.m. Wednesday at Cute Cakes Bakery, 345 W. Grand Ave. No RSVP is required. For information and future dates, visit www.escondido.org/meetthemayor.aspx. OCEANSIDE Advertisement The Oceanside City Council will hold a mayor/council workshop at 2 p.m. Wednesday to interview applicants for the vacant City Clerk position. The city of Oceansides Planning Division will hold a second community workshop on the Coastal Hazards Vulnerability Assessment from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Council chambers, 300 N. Coast Highway, to discuss possible coastal hazards adaptation strategies. Residents, business owners, visitors and others with an investment in vulnerable coastal assets are strongly encouraged to attend and/or provide input to Principal Planner Russ Cunningham at rcunningham@ci.oceanside.ca.us. Visit https://bit.ly/2QX9Mlt or call (760) 435-3525. POWAY The Poway City Council is scheduled to meet in closed session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers, 13325 Civic Center Drive, to discuss the city managers position. In regular session at 7 p.m., the council will hear an update on the Mickey Cafagna Community Center and will discuss how to support the Poway Valley Senior Citizens Corporation so it can continue to provide services while the center is being built. Advertisement SAN MARCOS The city will host a public workshop at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall for residents to learn more about a project to redevelop the site at 1210 E. Mission Road with 24 condominium units. The project would have four two-story buildings and onsite parking. Residents will receive two more notices for the project: a notice of public hearing for the Planning Commission, and a notice of public hearing for the city council. Contact Associate Planner Sean del Solar at (760) 744-1050, ext. 3223 or sdelsolar@san-marcos.net. VISTA Vistas Public Arts Commission is holding a Call for Artists to create a sculpture in the Paseo Santa Fe downtown district. The sculpture will be in the center of the roundabout being built at South Santa Fe Avenue and Guajome Street. The artist will receive a $25,000 commission. Suggestions for possible subjects are a depiction of Vistas history, climate or culture. Find details at https://bit.ly/2HUKPY0 or call (760) 639-6151. Submit digital images and information to vistapublicart@cityofvista.com; submit non-digital proposals to City of Vista, Recreation & Community Services, 200 Civic Center Drive. Application deadline is 5:30 p.m. March 4. Advertisement SCHOOL DISTRICTS CARLSBAD The Carlsbad Unified School District board will meet in closed session to discuss litigation and student discipline at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the district office, 6225 El Camino Real. In regular session at 6 p.m., the board will discuss feedback on the proposed renovation project for Hope Elementary, and on the Carlsbad High School Chiller Plant and Science Building. ENCINITAS Advertisement The Encinitas Union School District board will hold a series of site visitation meetings at its schools. The schedule: noon Friday, El Camino Creek, Capri, Paul Ecke Central, Farm Lab; noon March 1, Park Dale Lane, Flora Vista, Ocean Knoll; 8:30 a.m. March 14, El Camino Creek and Capri; noon March 15, Olivenhain Pioneer, Mission Estancia, La Costa Heights; 8:30 a.m. March 21, Ocean Knoll and Paul Ecke Central; 8:30 a.m. March 28, Mission Estancia and La Costa Heights; 8:30 a.m. April 18, Park Dale Lane and Flora Vista; 8:30 a.m. April 25, Olivenhain Pioneer. RAMONA The Ramona Unified School District board is scheduled to meet in closed session at 6 p.m. Thursday at the district office, 720 Ninth St., and in regular session at 7 p.m. SAN MARCOS Advertisement The San Marcos Unified School District board will meet in closed session to discuss labor negotiations at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the North County Regional Education Center, 255 Pico Ave., Suite 250. In regular session at 6:30 p.m., the board will hear a report on the Peer Buddies program at Paloma Elementary School, and give final approval to ordinances establishing Community Facilities District No. 8, levying special taxes and incurring bonded indebtedness. The board will also consider new high school courses, including World Dance, Physics of the Universe, and Child Development. Advertisement laura.groch@sduniontribune.com Members of the Helix Water District Board of Directors have given themselves a raise that now makes them the highest-paid water board members in San Diego County. The five-member governing board last week voted 3-2 to hike its per-diem pay from $200 to $225. The maximum number of meetings the directors can go to per month is 10 and they can earn no more than $27,000 a year. Before the raise, they had been on par at $200 per diem with several other district boards, including the Encina Wastewater Authority, Vallecitos Water District and Vista Irrigation District. Advertisement On the lower end are the Otay Water District and South Bay Irrigation District directors at $100, Lakeside Water District directors at $125, Padre Dam directors at $140, and Sweetwater Authority directors at $150 per meeting. Helix now inches closer to the per diem payments for several Orange County boards El Toro Water District Board members are paid $219; Moulton Niguel Water District, $220, Irvine Ranch Water District, $286; and Orange County Water District, $288. The raise was proposed by board President Dan McMillan in January and a public hearing was held last week. Directors DeAna Verbeke and Mark Gracyk voted against the raise. I really struggled with this proposal, said Gracyk, who lives in Lemon Grove and represents District 3, the most economically disadvantaged area Helix serves. We as directors devote a lot of time to this position, reading reports and doing research, going to conferences. Its more than just a couple of hours at a board meeting. But I knew that when I decided to run for this position that it was more about serving my community. It wasnt about the per diem, not at all. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, one of the two members opposed to the increase earned the least Gracyk took home $17,200. Verbeke, who also voted against the increase, earned $21,000. McMillan, who pushed for the raise, earned the maximum amount allowed at that time, $24,000, according to district records. Scalzitti earned $17,800 and Hedberg, $16,200. The district serves more than 275,000 customers in a nearly 50-square-mile service area that includes La Mesa, Lemon Grove and El Cajon, as well as parts of Spring Valley, Santee, Lakeside and unincorporated areas of San Diego County. Advertisement The part-time board has not had a raise since 2003, when it went from $150 to $200 per work event. The state Legislatures Water Code allows for an annual 5 percent adjustment. In January, Helix customer Gordon Place of El Cajon urged the board to take more time to consider the increase and suggested hourly compensation. To that point, McMillan, Hedberg and Scalzitti detailed the number of hours they worked to prepare for meetings and training to be able to address constituents concerns. At last weeks public hearing, Mount Helix resident Larry Nichols told the board that he supported their raise, especially when he considered how the board had adjusted the health insurance costs for employees in the district several years ago. Advertisement Helix employees, including the directors, started contributing more toward their medical premiums effective in 2017. Advertisement karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com In Sundays Back Story, energy reporter Rob Nikolewski talks about the mammoth Cameron LNG facility that San Diegos Sempra Energy is building along with partners in Japan and France. You traveled to the town of Hackberry, Louisiana, to look at the Cameron LNG facility. Why? Sempra Energy, the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric, is one of only two Fortune 500 companies in San Diego Qualcomm is the other. And while Qualcomm is better known to most of our readers because of its global reach due to its chipmaking and 5G technological innovations, Sempra is also making an international name for itself as well by investing billions in liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Advertisement But outside of the energy business, a lot of people dont know that. And a lot of people dont even know what LNG is. So we felt it was important to write an indepth story that gives readers the basics of LNG, shows them what this $10 billion project called Cameron does and takes a look at the risks/rewards involved in making such a huge investment. We also discuss the environmental implications because natural gas is a fossil fuel. Where exactly is this Cameron LNG facility? Its in Louisiana, not far from the Texas border. I flew into Houston Intercontinental and drove a little over two hours to get to Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is the largest city near the facility, which is located in the town of Hackberry. What surprised you about this story? Just the sheer size of the facility. Imagine a rectangle of piping and steel about two miles long and a half-mile wide, right along a ship channel. And then there are three giant storage tanks that are each 200 feet high, right next to a ship channel. To give you a sense of its size, contractors used about a quarter-million cubic yards of concrete and laid about 7.45 million feet of cable. Thats 1,410 miles the distance from Balboa Park to the outskirts of Des Moines, Iowa. At the peak of construction last summer, Camerons workforce reached 11,000. When I was there Feb. 6, the project manager said there were 8,000 workers at the site and they all looked pretty busy. By the time all the construction is done, Camerons CEO said there the facility would employ about 280 people. Advertisement Is the site protected against hurricanes? The facility is designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and the equipment and all the foundations are designed to absorb wind load pressures or forces the wind exerts on a building or structure of 183 mph. Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast in August 2017 and while the brunt of the storm missed the Louisiana Gulf Coast, the Cameron site reported about 17 inches of rain. Port Arthur, Texas, which is about 40 miles away, received 50 inches of rain. Our site drainage here is very robust, Jamie Gray, Camerons project manager said, Advertisement Are there other facilities like Cameron nearby? Quite a few. Were all familiar with the California Gold Rush of 1849. Well, theres a gas rush going on now with companies rushing to build LNG export facilities in North America. One of Sempras executives told me their decisions to build these projects is the reverse of the quote from the Field of Dreams movie: If they come, we will build it, said Justin Bird, Sempra vice president and gas infrastructure special counsel. Thats our model. And the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana is the area where most of those sites have been built, are getting built or are being considered. Advertisement One LNG facility recently opened in Corpus Christi and another that is already up and running is about 40 miles from the Cameron site. The local economic development organization reported Southwest Louisiana led the nation with $108 billion in industrial projects recently completed. Its purely anecdotal, but the parking lot of the hotel I stayed at was filled with pickup trucks, many of them driven by workers going to some of the sites. Advertisement Business rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) The United Arab Emirates' yearslong war in Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia bled into the start of a biennial Abu Dhabi arms fair Sunday, which saw the Emirates sign $1.3 billion in weapons deals. One manufacturer displayed a model of a machine gun on sale that's now in the hands of Emirati-backed militiamen in Yemen, while the armored personnel carriers and tanks used in the war in the Arab world's poorest country also could be seen at the show. Even the military show that began the fair included troops raiding a militant hideout equipped with both mobile and land-based ballistic missiles, just like those in the possession of Yemen's Houthi rebels. While Emirati officials avoided discussing Yemen, allied American officials linked arms smuggling there to what they described as the wider malign activities of Iran across the greater Middle East. "My assumption is there are still things going into Yemen that I need to stop. . There is nothing good happening by arms being illegally shipped into Yemen," said Vice Adm. James Malloy, the head of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet command that oversees the region. "It is destabilizing. It delays peace there. It exacerbates the disastrous humanitarian crisis that we're facing in Yemen and delays humanitarian efforts coming in." Discussing the Houthis, Malloy added: "We see the world trying to end this thing and one group doing nothing to end it probably the opposite." The UAE entered Yemen's war in March 2015 alongside Saudi Arabia to back Yemen's internationally recognized government, which the Houthis had pushed out of the capital, Sanaa. The Emirates largely has handled ground operations in the conflict while the Saudis have bombed from the air. The war has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine and killed more than 60,000 people since 2016, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, which tracks the conflict. Atrocities have been common in the war. Saudi airstrikes have hit markets and hospitals, killing civilians. Associated Press investigations have shown how the UAE negotiated secret deals with al-Qaida in Yemen fighters and that coalition forces tortured and sexually abused detainees. Meanwhile, the Houthis have indiscriminately laid land mines, employed child soldiers and tortured political opponents. The U.S. had backed the Saudi-led coalition with midair refueling and targeting information. American lawmakers, angered by the Oct. 2 assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, have been pushing to withdraw U.S. support. The Houthis also have fired over 150 ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia, some even reaching as far as its capital, Riyadh. The West, United Nations experts and the Saudi-led coalition say Iran has helped supply the Shiite rebels with the missiles, something Iran denies. That preoccupation with ballistic missiles fueled the opening ceremony of the International Defense Exhibition and Conference. The unnamed militia threatened to launch ballistic missiles, leading to an all-out assault by troops in armored vehicles, tanks, helicopters and jets. The demonstration's climax saw a fake ballistic missile slowly emerge from an underground silo, only to be destroyed by an airstrike. That worry also saw the Emirates sign a $355-million deal Sunday with Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Massachusetts, for surface-to-air Patriot missiles to protect against such launches. Drones and other weaponry have been recovered from the Houthis and appear to be Iranian, experts say. Meanwhile, Western-made arms like those on display Sunday have ended up in the hands of militiamen in Yemen. Rights group Amnesty International criticized Belgium's FN Herstal for displaying its 5.56 mm Minimi machine gun at the arms fair as it has been seen in the hands of Emirati-aligned militiamen. FN Herstal officials at the fair declined to comment. The military buildup in the Emirates and elsewhere in the region has come amid concerns about Iran's influence after the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers. While Iran continues to abide by its promise to limit its enrichment of uranium, the U.S. under President Donald Trump has pulled out of the accord. Malloy, the head of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, didn't hesitate to describe Iran's actions in the region as "destabilizing," citing its renewed threats about cutting off the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil traded by sea passes. "The activities and the exercises that they engage in are inherently offensive in nature," the vice admiral said. Iran, however, didn't represent the only ongoing geopolitical challenge seen at the arms fair. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who often attends the arms fair, was a no-show amid the ongoing protests challenging his rule though his country displayed some of its weapons for sale. Bangladesh Prime Minsiter Sheikh Hasina attended the fair's opening ceremony, as did Guinea's prime minister and Chechen regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Meanwhile, China displayed weapons for sale ranging from missile launchers to drones. Already, China has sold armed drones to Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The Emiratis in particularly had wanted American-made armed drones, but the Obama administration opposed the sales over the Missile Technology Control Regime, a 30-year-old agreement that aims to limit the spread of missile technology. Under Trump, the U.S. has permitted U.S. manufacturers to directly market and sell drones, including armed versions. The government still must approve and license the sales. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, the director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, acknowledged those efforts Sunday. "We do understand that it's a very competitive world out there and we want to ensure that we're doing everything in our power to provide us systems the best in the world to our partners," Hooper said. The dramatic changes in the atmosphere affect the way blood circulates to the brain when we fly, says Dr. Osborne Embiruka Nyandiva. Dr. Nyandiva is National University of Samoa senior lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine. He explained how without that regular supply of oxygen, illness that may be manageable on the ground, look very different up in the sky. With the unfortunate circumstances of two passengers passing on while flying, Dr. Nyandiva said passengers should be sure to declare any medical conditions they have, either to the airline or their travelling companions. One of the scenarios why we have death in some circumstances is if someone has an underlying condition which is not really declared while taking a flight, or if people you are travelling with do not notice it, or it is not shared, he said. He said as a general rule, asthmatic people or anyone experiencing cardiovascular problems like heart problems or angina should be especially careful when flying. Breathing related problems like asthma but also anxiety, schizophrenia or bipolar are also worth considering as extra risk while flying, and previous experiences with concussion. The change of environment has an adverse effect on how the body adapts to that particular new scenario, Dr Nyandiva said. But as well as declaring ones own medical conditions or situations to the airline or cabin crew, passengers should try help each other too. Passengers should remember to love one another as themselves, Dr Nyandiva said, and keep a watchful eye on the people they share a plane with. At least have an interaction with your neighbour, and maybe from that interaction you will be able to understand, should anything happen, youll know how to help. Its good to introduce one another, where you are coming from and where are you going, what do you do and all of that, he said. Symptoms like short sharp breaths, or very pale skin can be sure giveaways there is a problem, and Dr Nyandiva encouraged people to immediately sound the distress call to the cabin crew. It will go a long way to inform the crew of the event happening to the passenger, he said. Hopefully, the cabin crew will already be aware of the passenger, and their health conditions. Anything can happen and youll find by notification, should there be anything that may cause alarm they can always come to your aid as soon as possible. Once you are on the plane, you are under the mercy of the cabin crew, Dr Nyandiva said. So it would pay to, as you board, choose a flight attendant to confide in. With high traffic of people in Samoa travelling for medical treatment, knowing how to travel while experiencing health complications could save lives. Dr Nyandiva said the IATA medical curriculum is comprehensive, and cabin crew undergo regular refresher courses on basic medical interventions. It is important to plan well before you journey by plane, the doctor said. Have your medical packages in place, and ensure you do a pre-journey check up with your regular health practitioner. While he was reluctant to advise about specific ages, Dr Nyandiva did caution that children and elderly should take extra precautions, or have those precautions taken on their behalf as they are particularly vulnerable. However you travel, be in a manner to enable you to get to where you are going, he said. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) believes there is human trafficking on some fishing trawlers in the Pacific but the lack of data is making it difficult to address. That is the view of Par Liljert, who works as coordinator and advisor for the IOM. He said this in an interview with the Samoa Observer, on the sidelines of a regional seminar in Samoa, which focused on addressing the challenges of human trafficking and people smuggling in the Pacific. Mr. Liljert said the IOM would like to do more work in the Pacifics fishery industry, to make an assessment on the labour conditions and to look for potential trafficking. In the fishery industry we would like to do more work on the fishing vessels especially the ones that are coming from maybe other countries into the region what kind of labor conditions are there on the boats and looking at the potential trafficking, he said in an interview. The need to collect data is also important for the IOM, added Mr. Liljert, as the lack of data in the Pacific is making it difficult for local authorities to tackle issues such as human trafficking. Another thing we want to discuss more with the member states is how we can properly gather data and how can we join to try and gather data so that we can actually analyze it and share that data amongst the countries in the Pacific. Other regions in the world have data, according to Mr. Liljert, but not the Pacific region. If you ask me whether we think there is trafficking in some of the fishing boats yes we think so, but if you ask us how many have we found, we are not there yet because we havent started to gather the data, he said. The seminar was organised by The Pacific Immigration Development Community. It focused on developing a regional framework, which will help support each country to develop their national action plans to combat human trafficking and people smuggling. The sleepy streets of Apia on a Sunday afternoon came alive with passengers from the MS Queen Victoria Vista-class cruise ship that docked at the Matautu Wharf yesterday. The vessel, operated by Cunard Line, has the capacity to host 2,081 passengers, including 900 crewmembers. They came from as far as Europe, America, Asia and other places in the world. Tour busses were present to provide tours around the island for some tourists while others decided to relax and walk around Apia, despite most places being closed for Sunday. Stalls and other small businesses selling handicrafts were set-up at the port. One of the passengers, Pamela Simms, from America said this was her second time in Samoa. I visited Samoa two years ago, being here on a Sunday impressed me when I saw the people of Samoa dressed in white to attend church, she said. It is very nice to see that this tradition is still alive in some countries. We got on the ship from San Francisco towards Hawaii and then straight to Samoa. The cruise will head straight for New Zealand after Samoa. We will get off in Auckland and a few weeks there but this ship is doing an around the world trip and it started from Hamburg, Germany and it will probably go back to England. The length of travel for us from America to Samoa was ten days starting from February the sixth this year, said the 69-year-old from Pennsylvania. The MS Queen Victoria was named after the British Monarch Queen Victoria and its facilities include seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom, and a theatre. The construction of the new Tanumalala Prison continues to incur additional costs on top of its initially estimated cost of $10 million. The project has tipped the budgeted cost with $14 million already expended on the construction of the new correctional service facility. According to the Parliament Committee Report on the First Supplementary Estimates 2018/2019, an additional $1.9million has been allocated for construction work at the new Tanumalala Prison. A total of $2.3 million supplementary estimates has been approved for the Samoa Prison and Correction Services (SPCS). The remaining $75,970 will go to 137 personnel who have been rewarded with a salary increase except for the Commissioner. A breakdown of the $1.9 million shows that the bulk of it ($1.1million) is set aside for a new prison road, while $150,000 is for a fence, $80,000 is for a wireless communication and a new water tank gets $600,000. According to the Parliamentary Committee Report, an estimate of $14million has already been spent on the construction of the new prison facility. This includes the $2.2million appropriated in the first supplementary estimates 2018/2019. The committee questioned the construction of the new road to the prison where $1.1million is appropriated, the report stated. The Service revealed that the new route will pass through Faleseela Lefaga. In September 2017, a groundbreaking ceremony took place on the 30-acre land in Tanumalala Lefaga. Speaking at the event, Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi said the $10 million prison is a milestone for Samoa. The project has gone through a number of hurdles with the Government approving $1 million in 2016 to commence work, and China pulling out its funding and re-directing it to the Police and Law Enforcement facility. The $9 million shortfall at the time was not a challenge with Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt who is also responsible for Prison relying on prayers to get the project up and running. At the end of the day, prayer is all we have. We have $1 million (from Government) for the preparations and we are hoping to secure funds. The appointment of a Chief Executive Officer for the Ministry of Justice Courts and Administration (M.J.C.A.) has been halted, pending the completion of an investigation by the Public Service Commission (P.S.C.). The investigation into M.J.C.A. and its management began last year, according to P.S.C. Commissioner Aiono Mose Sua. The investigation is still on going and hence the delay in appointing the C.E.O. for the Ministry. It is a lengthy process and once its ready a report will be submitted to Cabinet, he said. The investigation is focusing on the security and release of court files, internal policies and procedures on managing the use of Government properties, among other issues. The position is currently held by Papalii John Taimalelagi; whose contract was up for renewal late last year. In August last year, the P.S.C. issued the warrant of appointment of Commission under the Public Service Commission Act against the Ministry. Tabitha Wong-Sin Salima was appointed to carry out the inquiry at the time. The inquirys terms of reference were to look at any material evidence relating to the use, allocation and management of Government assets. The investigation was the result of a formal complaint laid by Ministry employee Tulima Pio, allegedly in relation to files that he delivered to the Ministers office. The Minister for Justice and Courts Administration, Faaolesa Katopau Ainuu, denied the allegations back then. The Government has amended the Constitution to reduce the term in office for the Head of State to ten years. And after the first term, the Head of State is only eligible upon reappointment for a second term. These amendments known as the Head of State Constitutional Amendment Bill 2019 were passed into law in Parliament last month. Member of Parliament, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt, was the only MP who voted against this bill. Prior to this constitutional amendment, the Head of State served in office on appointment by the winning party and approved by Members of Parliament. Samoas Head of State, Highness Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II was appointed to office in July, 2017 and before that Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, who served for 10 years. The Constitution Amendment Act 2019 reads: 2) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a person who holds, or who has held for one (1) term, office as Head of State, is only eligible for re-appointment to that Office once. (2A) A person who has held the office as Head of State for two (2) terms is not eligible to be reappointed to that Office. The Constitution Amendment Act 2019 is administered by the Office of the Attorney General. Late last year the Samoa Government also proposed to amend the entitlements and salaries of the Head of State and Council of Deputy Members in line with the public service salary scale. The amendments to the Head of State Act 1965 if passed by the Parliament will Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet also see the Head of State Act administered by the. Another amendment touches on the official addressing of the Head of State as His Highness replaced with Afioga i le Ao o le Malo and her Highness the Masiofo with Afioga i le Masiofo/Alii or the spouse of the Head of State. Another proposed change relates to the allowances and privileges of the spouse of the Head of State. If the Head of State is living with his or her spouse at the time of his or her death, the spouse is entitled to be paid an amount equal to the salary of the Head of State, for three months from the date of death of the Head of State as a one off payment. Furthermore, a secretary to the Head of State, who is appointed by Cabinet on a three-year contract, will be responsible for the administration of the Office. This amendment was passed in the second reading and is still with Parliamentary Committee. The Public Service Commission has invited applications for the positions of Deputy Director General for the Ministry of Health, but not the Director General. Leausa Dr. Take Naseri has been appointed as the Acting Director General to see through the merge of the Ministry of Health and the National Health Services. This was confirmed by the Minister of Health, Tuitama Dr. Leao Tuitama. Leausa has been tasked to see through the merge and we will advertise the Director General position soon, he said. Leausa has taken over until such a time when his position is up for advertisement and anyone who is eligible can apply. Under the merge bill the PSC has taken over Human Resources matters and they are in charge of the hiring process. The Chairman of the P.S.C. Aiono Mose Sua told the Samoa Observer the delay in advertising of the Director General position is due to the fact they are gathering the information on the scope of work and the description of the position. We have already done that with the Deputy Director General, hence advertising the positions this week, said Aiono. According to the PSC special advertisement, two Deputy Director General positions up for grabs. There is the Deputy Director General for Public Health Services and the Deputy Director General for Hospital and Clinical Services. The starting rate is $96,445 per annum and deadline is 13 March, 2019. Corruption and illegal practices during the election is the main reason the Government moved to amend the electoral laws. This is according to the Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi during his weekly media programme. We are trying to avoid having a corrupt election, he said, adding that the laws had to be amended in order for the voters to vote in their constituencies. All for valid reasons, he said about the Constitutional amendment. This will allow the opportunity for people in the villages to monitor the voters roll, to determine whether you are from that village or not. The issue here is that we dont want people who are not from the village make decision that will impact the village. People in the village know their candidates, unlike people who live elsewhere and vote here, due to influence of the candidate, is why this is important, he said. The Prime Minister said another issue is the practice of business owners in Apia running for public office, and registering their employees in their constituencies to vote for them. Thats when he said the Government is trying to avoid having a corrupt election, before giving another example. There are candidates that are from Apia who have registered people in Apia to vote in their constituency, and yet these people are not from Apia, this is what we are trying to avoid. We want to remove corruption from the election process. We want the winners to be voted in legally not win through illegal practices, he added. The Prime Minister said their efforts are to encourage the voters to exercise their democratic right without any influence. You vote should be based on the whispering of the Holy Spirit and who you feel you should vote for, he added. Strong winds, torrential rain and the appalling conditions they bring are wreaking havoc at the Savalalo market, affecting art and craft vendors. Last week during a tropical depression, part of the markets roof was blown off, forcing vendors to gather their art pieces and seek refuge in other parts of the market. Some of the vendors told the Samoa Observer that it has been a week since the roof was blown off, and the Government whom they pay rent to for a spot is yet to respond and fix the roof. Now they are urging immediate action from the Government to help them. A vendor, Steve Leuatogi, told the Samoa Observer that their products remain vulnerable to the weather without the roof. Safety and health is also another consideration. We dont know if its only those right under the damaged area of the shelter that are being dismissed from having to pay their rents. But were also victims here as the rain kept coming over our crafts and its not good, he said. The blown-off roof is located at the right from the bus terminal view, and its damage is now affecting the owners of five stalls selling Samoan craftwork. Mr. Leuatogi said he asked the Government or the Samoa Land Corporation to respond to their plea. This is the only source of income for my own family and most of my crafts, they get spoiled once wet by rain or dried out by the sun so I have no choice but to leave them in the rubbish so its a huge expense and loss for us, he said. Another affected vendor, Toa Peter, told this newspaper that their sales have dropped after the damaging of the roof. Whenever it rains, we have to rush our things in a safer place inside the other stalls, and we cant stop selling these to wait for the roof to get fixed because we rely on this income, he said. The same concerns have been brought by other members of the market who also have been victims of the story season. Attempts have been made to obtain a comment from the Samoa Land Corporation. Dear Editor, Oh! How so comforting is it to know that while one Christian denomination is still head butting the pulpit over that simple thing called tax, along comes another Christian body with vision to go well out of their way to accommodate a request from the government of the day. Easily, the Methodist group deserves a standing ovation for this gesture. To postpone their annual conference in the face of discerning members from abroad is not only a brave decision but a noble call as well. Rev. Faulalo was comfortable in his decision because he had the support of the majority or in other words, hes got the numbers. Talking about numbers, that is what all these online chatter comes down to. Malele, Talalelei, and recently Saute may think theyve become somebody because theyve got a-bit-of-a-following-going-on but its all hollow and shallow. At least SSIG are on the right path by targeting the polls even though success is not guaranteed. You see, weve been hearing the same grumblings in 2006, 2011, and 2016 prior to elections. Yet all results were landslides in favour of HRPP. So as loud as you think youre yelling, and as far as you can hurl your pigs head, the fact is you are in the minority. In other words you dont have the numbers where it counts. If you dont have the noodles to register a political party then go vote for SSIG or poor old Olo Vaai because thats the only way to erode another landslide victory in 2021 for the PM who, by the way, is gloating at your stupidity. Stop breaking the law. Be educated and know what to do to get the numbers. Its all in the numbers, and you dont get it on Facebook, YouTube, or InstaPigsHead. Haych Dear Editor, Re: Issue of remittances I notice the initial report about the remittances by the Samoa Observer: 1) failed to identify the exact report from the Central Bank that the figures came from. 2) didnt identify the official from the Central Bank whose statements the entire Samoa Observer report was based on. An official could be the receptionist at the Central Bank for all we know. Why didnt the reporter go and get a comment from the Governor of the Central Bank? She would be the most authoritative person to go on record. Better still, why not release a link to the report that the Central Bank has apparently released. I went onto the Central Bank website and it was not at all obvious where this remittance report or foreign exchange earner report could be found. Furthermore, I also note that the article made absolutely no mention of the 3,000 seasonal workers currently working in New Zealand and Australia. It is absolutely obvious to anyone doing a report on foreign exchange earnings that one of the first things to talk about is the effect of those 3,000 workers sending money home every single week on the economy. Finally, has a study been done on remittances sent to Samoa for a breakdown of who is sending money to Samoa? Those who live overseas or seasonal workers who normally live in Samoa but are overseas purely for work. Seasonal workers have more incentive to send money back to their families in Samoa because that is the only reason they are overseas in the first place. People living overseas do not have the same incentives and therefore may only send money less regularly - once a month or only when a faalavelave is on, which is not every week. If a study has not been done, I am inclined to believe that most of the so-called increase in remittances in recent years correlates directly with the increase in seasonal workers sent from Samoa every year (and growing). As for the question about what would happen to Samoas economy if overseas Samoans stopped sending money; with respect, it really is a bit of a air-headed question. First, Samoans will never make a decision en-masse to stop sending remittances because the remittances are to their families. Samoans do not send money to help the government nor do they send it to help the economy. They are purely sending it for a family obligation. Yes, it helps the economy but that is simply a happy symptom of economics. Thanks but that is it. Samoas government does not owes these people overseas. Samoan families owe a debt of gratitude though and this is usually done through the bestowal of matai titles (a real tangible stake in the political and cultural future of the family). Nothing more; nothing less. As the generations move on and overseas Samoans have less and less links to Samoa (eg: parents dead, all siblings overseas, only distant relatives remaining), then remittances will decrease naturally. Second, a Samoan family these days is global. Mother and father may be in Samoa with a few children but the other children live overseas; maybe one or two in New Zealand and another one in Australia. There is a really dumb underlying premise in the question that Samoans overseas are a completely separate entity to the Samoans in Samoa. How can the children in NZ and Australia (and their families) be separated from their parents and other siblings (and their families) in Samoa? That is one whole family unit in the Samoan cultural context. They are one and the same Aiga. Therefore, those children overseas who send money back to help their parents and siblings back in Samoa, they are doing it because it is their parents and their siblings. They cannot and will not decide to stop sending money (even if they are trying to protest Stuis government). It is not about the government, it is about mum, dad and the brothers. Their own blood. If they do not want to send money, that is fine, but that is for their family to argue about. Id like to see what the father would say in response to a son in Australia who rings up saying hey dad, I am going to stop sending money to you because I hate Stui and do not want my money going to Samoas economy. Petelo Suaniu Re: Saute Sapolu a terrorist, says P.M. I dont agree with the language on the video but it was clear that he was really frustrated with the government in Samoa. Now, making a video like this does not send his message in a positive way. I agree with Fuaoletoelau that there should be a public forum where peoples voice could be heard with no repercussions. It has to be in Samoa because not everyone is on Social Media plus a lot of people dont take SM seriously. As far as the US intervention, it comes down to how The Trump Admin can benefit from it. If not, nothing will happen. Just saying. Pita The truth should be told one way or another. When it comes to the ongoing saga involving former Speaker and Cabinet Minister, Laauli Leuatea Polataivao, the million tala question is this; now that the H.R.P.P. has publically declared he is no longer a member of the party, is he still then a Member of Parliament? Someone should tell the public the truth, whether it comes from the Speaker of Parliament or the Prime Minister himself. We say this because the answer to this question appears elusive and no one seems to want to say it, not Prime Minister Tuilaepa, Speaker of Parliament Leaupepe Toleafoa Faafisi or anybody else. Whats so difficult about it? We know that the law says once a Member of Parliament crosses the floor, it automatically means they have to have a by-election. But in this case, Laauli has not voluntarily crossed the floor; he has instead been pushed from the H.R.P.P. for voting against a Government-driven law. Which raises the question of whether a party can push a member across the floor to the point where they are required to have a by-election. Indeed, this case is opening up an interesting debate about how powerful a party can be, in this case the H.R.P.P. While we have had cases in the past where Members of Parliament have had to undergo by-elections, that happened because they had voluntarily crossed the floor. Laauli hasnt and he maintains that he is still a member of the H.R.P.P. So who has the final say? And when are they just going to tell us? Speaking of which, last week, the H.R.P.P. Whip, Alaiasa Moefaauo Moananu, was quite adamant in confirming the H.R.P.P. Executive had unanimously removed Laauli. This was done three weeks ago. Everything was spelled out in the letter (from Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi) and that letter detailed the reasons behind the decision, Alaiasa explained. It would have been nice to be able to get a copy of the letter but Alaiasa was obviously not at liberty to release it. In the meantime, he said there was a lot more behind the decision to remove Laauli than what has been talked about in the media which has mainly revolved around his vote against a Constitutional amendment - promoted by the Government. There were many things that he (Laauli) was involved in with his private businesses, he said. He should have done the right thing to protect the government and his name by resigning from his private business. If you have read the letter from the Prime Minister he had advised Laauli some 5 10 years ago not to be involved with those businesses and move away from it. The case between him and Peseta rolled over from the other Parliamentary term and he had to resign (as Minister of Agriculture) due to that. We accepted his decision (to vote against Constitutional amendment). Told that Laauli insists that his position to vote against the Constitution amendments was to voice his constituencys view on the law, Alaiasa said that is Laaulis interpretation. It is clear that what he did is enough to let us know that he is no longer in the party, he said, adding that the decision was in the best interest of the party. The man of the moment though, Laauli, disagrees. Contacted for a comment, Laauli denied the Prime Minister said he has been removed from the political party. He (Tuilaepa) did not say that, assured Laauli. Asked to comment on claims that his involvement with his private businesses contributed to the decision, Laauli said: There is no one in Parliament that is not involved in (private) business. Getting back to the issue of being removed from the party, Laauli said: I cannot say what the decision (on that matter) is. I will let you know once the people that appointed me in the position (as M.P. for H.R.P.P.) make a decision. I had met with my constituency and they will prepare a press release on the outcome of our meeting and decision. On Friday, that decision was relayed to the nation during a press conference where Sasina, Letui and Fagaee, villages in Gagaifomauga No. 3, backed Laauli. Speaking on behalf of the constituency, Seve Avaula Panapa, made it absolutely clear that Sasina, Letui and Fagaee remain supportive of their Member of Parliament, staying with the H.R.P.P. If the H.R.P.P. refuses to honour his membership, that does not change anything, he will always be our Member of Parliament, Seve said. As for Laauli, he said: There were three parties in Parliament, then two and now just one ruling party. And considering the advantages and disadvantages of what has occurred, I am praying for what is next. Are we looking at the possibility of a new political party in the making? Who knows? Stay tuned! Have an awesome week Samoa, God bless! Local businesses have expressed concern that only foreign investment enterprises (F.I.E.) benefit from Government assistance schemes offered to the private sector. The Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour (M.C.I.L.) has recorded the concerns of the local businesses, according to the M.C.I.L. Assistant Chief Executive Officer (industry development and investment promotion), Fiu Jacinta Matulino. But she has denied there is favoritism. The Ministry reaffirms that there are no favoritisms, and that all eligible businesses inclusive of local businesses, are entitle to the assistance schemes administered by the Ministry, she told Sunday Samoan in an interview. A number of complaints were also received from F.I.E.s, added Fiu, on the involvement of non-citizens in business activities placed under the reserve list. Mainly on the issue of involvements of non-citizens in activities listed in the reserved list, mainly in the retailing activity, where these businesses were reported to be registered under citizens, to obtain business licenses and to avoid the F.I.E. registration process with M.C.I.L." No complaint has been received with regards to the registration process, fees charged and the monitoring process carried out by the Ministry. Fiu said the Ministry has also seen an increase in foreign investment from China, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and other countries. The increase was attributed to the continuous work to promote Samoa as an investment friendly environment. The aim of the investment work is to attract sustainable investments that will generate employment opportunities for our local people, provide capacity building for our labour force through new knowledge shared, transfer of technology, increase our export, generate revenue for the local economy and etc., she said. In the last three years, a total of 208 FIEs were registered and foreign investment certificates issued. While many foreign-owned businesses operate for a period of time, Fiu said some of them were deregistered, after the investor obtained Samoan citizenship. One example of an FIE that was in operation for a long period of time and has been deregistered, due to discontinuing of operation is the Yazaki EDS Samoa. Other major FIEs recently set up and are still in operations and to name a few, we have the Taumeasina Island Resort, Sheraton Hotel, Bank South Pacific, Tanoa Tusitala Hotel, Fero Samoa Limited and others. The Ministry continues its M&E works where we also ensure the renewal of all issued FICs, obtaining FIE status reports and other relevant processes are carried out to report on the progress of investments and investment benefits. Fiu said they continue to work with the Ministry for Revenue, Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Immigration to ensure full compliance with the legislation. Any registered business in Samoa with a share or shares held by a non-Samoan citizen should be registered as an FIE, Fiu added. Therefore, all registered FIEs are either fully or partially owned by non-citizens. Foreign investors can participate in all economic activities except for those listed in the reserve list of the Foreign Investment Act 2000 and the Prohibited Activities List of the Business License Act 1998 (Schedule 1). Non-citizens can also participate but should avoid bus transport services for the general public, taxi transport services for the general public, rental vehicles, retailing (food and drink items refer to Schedule 1.), saw milling and traditional elei garment designing and printing Fiu said the business license which allows an individual to operate a business in Samoa for both citizens and non-citizens is issued by the Ministry of Revenue. But all FIEs are required under the Foreign Investment Act 2000 to be registered in Samoa. The process of registering FIEs for the issuance of FICs is mandated and carried out under the MCIL. The Ministry supports the setting up of new sustainable businesses (both as local businesses or as foreign investments) that produce returns on investments, generate local employments, introduce new knowledge and technology for the up-skilling of our labour force, increase our export, generating revenues for the local economy and etc., Fiu added. Maluseu Doris Tulifau and her international movement Brown Girl Woke (BGW) are on the shores of the National University of Samoa (NUS) and the University of the South Pacific, with regular meetings now on for students to share, and learn from each other. The club meets weekly at NUS for the first time on February 20 at 12pm, in the student counsellor building, and meetings will begin at USP shortly. And in the spirit of Brown Girl Woke (BGW), Maluseu is not running this herself two student interns have taken the lead: Fetu Healani Petelo and Karameli Amiuanai. BGW is a group determined to carve out safe spaces for tough conversations in Samoa. Maluseu wants young women to find their voices, especially on taboo topics that affect them, like gender equality, domestic violence, sexual assault and more. We have to make safe spaces, in every level school, church, in the villages, that people can always go to, and that you as the NGO doesnt have to be there, she said. You know you have partnership with people who are there. Its about providing safe spaces, and having good relationships, and understanding those kinds of friendships. The interns have taken the lead on the whole project, which makes bringing BGW to the universities more sustainable, said Maluseu. Theyll run each session too. I told them, Im not going to hold your hand, you figure it out, you find a space, you talk to the administration Its probably something theyve never done, but they did, and theyre so excited, telling me Doris, we found a space, Doris we did this, she said. In the university clubs, student aged women (and men, invited to listen and learn) will be encouraged to hash out issues that matter to them, and share what is on their minds. This kind of environment is sorely needed here, Maluseu said. What I am building up is the girls, she said. Men do need to learn about womens rights, and thats why theyre encouraged to come in not to debate on issues. For me, for the basis for a lot of these kids its about understanding gender equality, because its something that is not in our culture or our religion here in Samoa, its not clear. It should be very clear, Maluseu said. She said she wants women to be bold to use their voices, and to not be intimidated by the men around them, who are well practiced and encouraged to speak their minds. As well as weekly gatherings, BGW hosts conferences and workshops, enabling groups of women to learn from each other, and build each other up. Last months conference focused on dance and spoken word to talk about social issues. Next month sees BGW partnering up with female rugby players to talk in detail about the issues the athletes face in a still male dominated world. With all my programs, its about gender based violence. From that, Im hoping I am going to build up leaders who take their own story and go from there, find spaces for them and build whatever they want to build, Maluseu said For the last year, Maluseu has been consistently running after school activities in partnership with the United States Peace Corp in rural schools, in Solosolo and Safata in Upolu, and Iva, Asau and Safotu in Savaii. She and dance mentors from Le Tiu Salasala dance group facilitate the childrens to learn Samoan dances that tell stories about their heritage, their earth, and their experiences. As well as traditional dances, the children will choreograph their own and tell their own stories. A performance about alcohol abuse was entirely choreographed by children and inspired by things they had witnessed in their own homes and communities, Maluseu said. We didnt have to tell them anything. The Government is close to establishing a national cancer registry to improve the tracking of cancer patients. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) recently, as it appealed to the public to go for cancer checkup and screening. We urge and encourage the public to come forward for cancer checkup and screening at the main hospitals for early diagnosis and treatment - prevention is better than cure, said MOH. The Samoa Cancer Society has been pushing for a national cancer registry with the MOH and various stakeholders since 2013. Each year, we highlight the importance of this registry, the lack of accurate data that would assist with research and funding toward improving (or implementing) cancer control and services for Samoa. We also advocate and implore on a regular basis to receive updated cancer incidence rates through the MOH PATIS (Patient Information System). We were also part of the research study conducted by Dr. Filipina Lei Sam on Socio-Demographic Risk Factors Profile, Incidence, Treatments and Outcomes of Cancer in Samoa: A 10 Year Retrospective Study (2007-2016) with one of her report recommendations being there is a great need to establish a National Cancer Registry for Samoa, said the cancer society. The Samoa Cancer Society also stated that they will continue to advocate for the establishment of the cancer registry, and the sharing of updated reports to all stakeholders, and continue to work alongside MOH in putting this into fruition. In Samoa, cancer is the second highest killer after the cardiovascular diseases according to our National Health Statistics in 2017, stated a statement signed by Ministry of Health Director General, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri said. Support to Cancer Society is on financial year basis with budget support to assist with awareness campaign on cancer prevention. MOH co-ordinates national awareness on World Cancer Day since 2016 - this is in view of the role MOH takes up with implementing public campaigns at national level with participation of the health sector agencies and everyone, said the health ministry. The Toleafoa Service Station at Fagalii is finally open for business. During a ceremony yesterday led by Fagalii Tai Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (CCCS) Pastor, Rev. Petaia Leavai, the business was officially opened, witnessed by family and friends. Cutting of the ribbon by Tuisugaletaua Sofara Aveau followed by a few words on the event. We have now witnessed the opening of this project and I believe this will benefit the people of our village, our churches, our village, and our country as a whole. As our reverend said: works done with the Lord is work that is blessed, said the former Member of Parliament. According to Aimaleaga Aiono Afese, who represented the company and family, the project took about four months to complete and cost around $670,000 tala. The whole motive behind this project was to share our blessings from the Lord. We made this project with the aim to provide more job opportunities for our people, he said. We already have a number of employees due to work here, both the store and the gas station; 10 from Fagalii and 20 from Vailele and Letogo, he told Sunday Observer. Subsequently, Fagalii village mayor Samau Ielu Lokeni thanked the company for the development in the village, confirming the belief that it will benefit not only the company but also the village folks. We have been waiting for something like this to come into our village, and now it has happened, providing a better chance for not only Fagalii but also our neighboring villages through offering jobs and such, he said. Aimaleleaga said the project had been in the pipeline for a while but he had to meet the village and neighboring residents first. This was not an easy project but we have managed to push through and we thank God for having us make it through as he makes things easy for us. We thank our parents also for starting all of these businesses initially where we are now standing up to take over and expand further, he added. Pakistan said on Sunday that it has not yet been informed by India on withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Islamabad in the wake of a bloody suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir. Abdul Razak Dawood, adviser to the Pakistan's Prime Minister on Commerce, said: "We are looking into the withdrawal of MFN status by India. We can speak to India about this issue. "Pakistan can raise this issue at different forums including the World Trade Forum," The Nation quoted him as saying. A day after the terror attack on Thursday, India announced it was taking back the MFN status given to Pakistan in 1995. The status means that a country will treat all World Trade Organisation member states equally in matters of tariffs on imports. After withdrawing the MFN status, New Delhi imposed a 200 per cent import duty on all goods originating or exported from Pakistan. Two Youth Congress activists were murdered by alleged CPI-M workers in Kerala's Kasargode on Sunday night, state Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran said. The Left party, however, denied any involvement. The two Youth Congress activists - Krupesh, 19, and Joshy, 24 - were attacked by three assailants who came on motorcycles and seriously injured. While Krupesh breathed his last at the Kasargode district hospital, Joshy died while being taken to a hospital in Mangaluru in neighbouring Karnataka. The Kasargode unit of the Congress has called for a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in the district on Monday to protest the murder. Addressing the media at Kochi after hearing about the incident, Ramachandran said that this murder was a planned one executed by the goons attached to the CPI-M. "Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who also holds the Home portfolio should explain this ghastly incident. This is not acceptable to the Kerala society... its high time that the CPI-M directs its cadres to lay down arms," he said. Kasargode district Congress president K. Hakkim told the media that the incident occurred near Periya near here. "This is a Kannur model murder that was neatly planned and executed in the dark," he alleged. Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala told the media that the CPI-M is using power to eliminate its political opponents and this will be strongly opposed by the Congress. But Kannur district CPI-M secretary M.V. Balakrishnan told the media that his party has no role in this incident. "We strongly condemn this incident and our party has no role in this. We want the police to quickly arrest the people behind this," he said. The Jammu and Kashmir authorities on Sunday evening withdrew the security cover provided to five separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq. "The security cover of five separatist leaders -- Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, professor Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Hashim Qureshi and Shabir Ahmad Shah -- has been withdrawn," confirmed state government sources. In line with the decision taken earlier in the day, armed guards, vehicles and other facilities to the separatists were withdrawn towards the evening, added the sources. Sunday's move comes after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, during his visit to the Kashmir valley on Friday, said that security provided to those who received money from Pakistan would be reviewed. Shah is currently in custody in Delhi after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Srinagar on July 26, 2017, in connection with a terror funding case. Security personnel were, however, deployed outside his residence in Srinagar where his family resides. Senior separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Muhammad Yasin Malik were not provided any security cover by the state government. Reacting to the Jammu and Kashmir authorities' move, the Hurriyat Conference on Sunday said they had never sought security cover. "The government had decided on its own to provide security to separatist leaders which was never demanded in the first place," the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said in a statement. "Mirwaiz Umer Farooq in fact said many times during his Friday sermons that he wanted withdrawal of the security cover. "The decision to withdraw security will neither change the stand of separatist leaders nor affect the situation on the ground," the statement added. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a meeting with RAW chief A. K. Dhasmana, Additional Director IB Arvind Kumar, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and NSA ' title=' NSA '>NSA Ajit Doval in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that left 49 CRPF troopers dead. What transpired between them was not immediately known or officially communicated, but sources in Home Ministry said that Singh took stock of the security situation in Kashmir in the aftermath of the terror attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The meeting also come in the wake of outrage and anger among the people post the attack as the country expecting retaliation from the government. From the US, China, Russia, Canada, Australia and the European Union to Afghanistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, various countries have come in support of India and expressed solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just a day after the Pulwama attack, India started the process of isolating Pakistan on the international stage with Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale meeting at least two dozen envoys in the national capital. It also withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan. According to experts, India's decision to withdraw the MFN status to Pakistan would adversely impact the neighbouring country's economy. Greenville, NC (27833) Today Thunderstorms likely. High 82F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Starkville, MS (39762) Today Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. If you are not redirected automatically, please follow this link New York City, NY (11385) Today Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High near 80F. WNW winds shifting to S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Certainly, one race or sex is not superior to another. To ignore systemic oppression and its impact on the past and present policies, however, is to put ones head into the sand. I was struck by the fact that even recently, most white Americans were unaware of the Tulsa Race Massacre of June 1, 1921 when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and destroyed homes and businesses in the Greenwood district in Tulsa. Thirty-five plus square blocks of the neighborhood at the time the wealthiest black community in the United States, known as Black Wall Street was decimated, with up to 300 people dead. Ten thousand black people were left homeless and property damage of black businesses and homes was an estimated at $1.5 million in 1921 dollars. It is precisely the omission of this kind of event in local, state, and national histories that establishes the need to examine systemic problems. Arlene Violet on critical race theory. She is a Republican who served as RI Attorney General Beijing and Washington are getting ready for the final talks The 90-day trade peace announced a couple of months ago is about to expire soon. However, the USa and China still have time to come up with an agreement and end the trade war. The final decision is expected to be made during the forthcoming meeting of the Chinese and American leaders. A month before the expiration date, both the United States and China acknowledged the progress in the talks. So, everyone seems to be looking forward to the meeting between the two leaders. The date of the meeting is yet to be specified but is likely to take place in the near future. At this point, the parties have managed to agree on an increase of the Chinese import of American agricultural products, energy carriers, as well as industrial products and services. At the same time, the USA has confirmed the intention to impose duties on the import of Chinese products to the amount of 200 billion dollars. This is due to happen on March 2nd, 2019. However, experts say that his scenario will be implemented only if the parties don't sign an agreement before the mentioned date. As the result of another round of talks, that ended on January 31st, both the USA and China highlighted considerable progress after holding honest, consistent and specific discussions on the key topics like the trade balance and the forming of a mechanism to implement the bilateral agreements in the future. On top of that, the parties agreed to take all the necessary actions to eliminate the imbalance in the bilateral trade relations, which is expected to be reach mainly through bigger imports of American products by China. President Trump underlined, however, that the latest round of the trade talks still hadn't clarified some of the key issues. So, these issues are expected to be resolved during the mentioned meeting between the two leaders, especialy as both of them are reported to be very interested in the meetings and its positive results. So signing a major agreement is a very likely scenario, international experts say. For those of you who don't know, the trade war between Beijing and Washington has been going on since last summer. Back then, both China and the United States mutually imposed 25% during on their imports of each other's products and services, that were estimated at 34 billion dollars by each of the parties. During the G20 summit in Argentina in December 2018, the USa and China managed to come up with a trade peace agreement. Starting from January 1st, 2019, the USA promised not to raise any duties while China promised to increase the import of American products in response. This compromise was the first major achievement in the talks. The agreement is to expire in March 1st. Not so long ago, the White House remined Beiging that in case of a failed talks or the absence of an agreement by March 2nd, they would impose the 200-billion-dollar duties. At the same time, if you have been watching the international markets for the last few months, you can clearly see globalism affecting them in a serious way. The biggest American corporations seem to have been the bigest losers to date. In particular, the pessimistic forecast made by some experts coupled with weak reports from some of those companies affected the stock market. Apparently, those weak sales result for a serious drop in the sales fo their products in China. So, international investors are afraid that other international American-based companies with their businesses being dependent on China may also be affected in the near future, which is clearly not in favor of the companies' stocks. On the other hand, when evaluating the situation, the experts are paying attention to the fact that the Chinese GDP has dropped all the way down to the lowest level in 28 years! Given all of the information mentioned above, it's almost safe to say that the forthcoming summit will end up with a major agreement. You are free to discuss this article here: forum for traders and investors 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 Vice President of the Republic of Ghana has escaped death in a tragic motor accident on Saturday, 16th February, 2019, Peacefmonline.com can confirm. The incident occurred near Asemasa near Beposo on the Takoradi-Cape Coast highway at about 6:30 pm. A terse statement affirming the incident and issued by the Veep's Office, however, indicates that the driver of an Urvan vehicle involved in the accident could not survive. May the soul of the unfortunate driver rest in perfect peace. Read Below the official statement issued by the Office of the Vice-president on the accident: Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia escaped unhurt in an motor accident On Saturday, 16th February, 2019. The incident occurred around 6:30pm on the Takoradi - Cape Coast highway as he returned from some activities in the western region. The driver of a commercial vehicle which was also involved in the accident unfortunately, however passed on. Some other passengers and security persons who were injured were conveyed to the Cape Coast Regional hospital and are responding to treatment. Vice President Bawumias thoughts and prayers are with the injured and the family of the deceased. -signed- Gideon Boako (Ph.D) Spokesperson to Vice President Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been accused by the former Member of Parliament for Nantong constituency, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed of sponsoring and aiding the terror groups that are engaged in some of these violences during elections. According to him, the President of the Republic cannot deny this allegation as he did not hide it as an opposition leader and now as President. Some have described as an attempt by this government to wangle a trick on the people of this country to hide the absolute complicit of the government and its appointees in this mess. After all, the terror groups that are engaged in some of these were terror groups that were formed by Mr. Nana Addo; he didnt hide it as an opposition leader and he financed and aided them in opposition, and in government he is still financing and aiding them, he alleged. Speaking on Radio Golds Alhaji and Alhaji programme, Murtala Mohammed described as heavily and damaging mess the safety of the country, as in the past few weeks there have been ugly scenes regarding the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election and other security matters in the country. He however charged that the country has a moral duty and a responsibility to ensure this hugely and messy situation is clean up, reiterating that the clean up exercise should largely be done by President Akufo-Addo himself. So it has been hugely, a messy situation that I have found also. We have a moral duty and a responsibility to see if we can clean the mess, and the person who indeed has the most responsibility in this is H.E the President, he charged. Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former Energy Minister of the ruling New Patrioitic Party (NPP), Boakye Agyarko has described former President John Dramani Mahama as bald face liar for claiming that NPP vigilante group members recruited to the National Security were at the funeral of Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, the late Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon. Boakye Agyarko in a write up on his facebook wall insists that no such thing occurred before, during and after the funeral of their relation. According to him, the video put out there is not in any way linked to the funeral of his late brother saying the family will like to put on record to the international community whom he addressed with the video, that there was no such activity at the funeral ceremony. The funeral of our late brother was organized successfully without any casualties and we find this distortion very surprising. Read the full statement below; The attention of the family of Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, the late Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon has been drawn to a videotape circulating of the Former President, John Mahama describing a scene of Security operatives as an occurrence at the funeral ceremony of our late loved one. The family will like to put on record to the international community whom he addressed with the video, that there was no such activity at the funeral ceremony. The funeral of our late brother was organized successfully without any casualties and we find this distortion very surprising. The family is reliably informed that, the video display was at L/Cpl. Daniel Adu Tiekus funeral held in August 2018. The family is appalled with the actions of the former Presidents which seeks to denigrate the memory of the noble man who has been put to rest peacefully. The family wishes to state that we are still mourning our late brother and request that John Mahama keeps the family away from his political ploy. If indeed, John Mahama wants to be regarded as a decent fellow, then the family expects him to render a retraction of this palpable falsehood and render an unqualified apology for his unfortunate and despicable action. Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Nigeria's president and leading opposition candidate have appealed for calm after the shock move to delay elections for a week. President Muhammadu Buhari said he was "deeply disappointed" but urged people to refrain from "civil disorder". Main rival Atiku Abubakar called for patience but accused the administration of "anti-democratic acts". Election officials cited "logistical" reasons for the 11th-hour delay in presidential and parliamentary polls. In a press conference on Saturday, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), Mahmood Yakubu, said the decision to delay had "nothing to do with political influence". How have the political parties reacted? The two main groups, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP), both condemned the move and accused each other of trying to manipulate the vote. President Buhari, of the APC party, urged Nigerians to "refrain from civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development". His main rival, Atiku Abubakar, called for calm over the next seven days saying: "I'm appealing to Nigerians to please come out and vote and I'm asking them to be patient about it." In a tweet he said the administration was trying to disenfranchise the electorate. The chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondu, said the delay was "dangerous to our democracy", accusing Mr Buhari of trying to "cling on to power even when it's obvious to him that Nigerians want him out". And the voters? In many cases they reacted with disappointment, frustration and anger. In the northern town of Daura, Musa Abubakar, who had travelled 550km (342 miles) from Abuja to take part in the election, told the BBC that he "couldn't believe" what had happened. Hajiya Sa'adatu said she was "greatly disappointed" to learn of the delay when she came out to cast her vote in the northern city of Kano. "We spent all night without sleeping hoping to vote today," Auwolu Usman, a voter in Maiduguri, told Reuters. Oyi Adamezie, in the city of Warri, told Agence France-Presse: "I see this postponement of the election as a ploy to rig." Yusuf Ibrahim, in Abuja, told Associated Press: "I came all the way from my home to cast my vote this morning... I am not happy, I'm very, very angry." Source: BBC 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 Assin Central Kennedy Agyapong has alleged that a blood stained nightie belonging to a lady was found at the scene where late MP Joseph Boakye Danquah was killed three years ago. He made the allegations accordingly in an interview with UTV . Mr. Agyapong claimed to have been invited to the crime scene by the Ghana Police Service (GPS). He said at the scene, he saw a ladys wear soaked with blood. The MP was of the view that if the owner of the stained nightie can be found, then it would be easier to uncover who was behind the late J.B. Danquahs murder. It is unclear what Mr. Agyapong is trying to arrive at, especially at a time he is part of seven other persons the wife of the late MP, Ivy Heward-Mills, has sued. Ms. Heward-Mills, who recently accused some CID officials probing her late husbands murder case of sexually harassing her, sued Mr. Agyapong, who himself is a subject murder investigation, for accusing her of having sexual affair with investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas. But in spite of the lawsuit, Mr. Agyapong said he will continue to dig into the circumstances leading to the murder of the late New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP at East Legon in Accra. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Iran warns Saudi Arabia, UAE of retaliatory measures, scolds Pakistan after deadly terror attack 02/17/19 Source: Press TV The chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned Saudi Arabia and the UAE that they could face retaliatory measures for supporting terrorists on behalf of the US and Israel. General Mohammad Ali Jafari on Saturday stressed that Iran would give a "decisive" response to a Wednesday terrorist attack which killed 27 IRGC border guards in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province. Victims of terror attack on IRGC bus "The patience that the establishment once exercised against conspiracies and reactionary regimes in the region, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE which carry out these acts on orders from the US and the Zionist regime, will be different and we will definitely take reparative measures," he said. Fueral for victims of the terror attack Isfahan, Iran, February 16, 2019. (Photo by Mehr News Agency) On Wednesday, an explosives-laden car rammed into a bus carrying the IRGC personnel on a road between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, leaving 27 of them dead and 13 others wounded. The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the bombing. Jafari said, "The enemies must be sure that the comrades of these martyrs and all those who have made covenants with the people to establish security, are even more determined to defend them and deal a yet stronger blow to the enemies." ...#_ #_ pic.twitter.com/Ccbkeo3RHH Hossein Dalirian (@HosseinDalirian) February 16, 2019 Elsewhere in his remarks, the IRGC commander denounced Pakistan's support for terrorists who wage terror attacks in Iran, calling on Islamabad to change its policy toward Jaish ul-Adl. "The Pakistani government which has sheltered these counter-revolutionary elements dangerous to Islam and knows their hideout - they are supported by Pakistani security forces - should be responsible for this crime," he said. "If Pakistan does not punish them, we will definitely take reparative measures against this counter-revolutionary force in the near future, and the Pakistani government will have to bear the consequences of its support for the group," Jafari added. Kathmandu, February 17 After the governments ambitious Melamchi Water Supply project cancelled the contract with CMC, Tanahun Hydropower Project has also scrapped the contract with the Italian builder. Like in Melamchi, the company had let the hydropower project halfway few months back. The project had given an ultimatum of 28 days to return to work, but the company did not make any contact till the Friday deadline, according to Pradeep Kumar Thike, Managing Director of the Project. The termination process has already started, he says, We will send a termination letter to the company soon. The official informs that the Project will make another call for the tenders soon. He claims the Project has already started conversations with the supporting agency, Asian Development Bank, so as to issue the call at the earliest. The government had signed a Rs 20 billion contract with the company to carry out preliminary structural works of the hydropower project. Iran's national optical fiber network to expand by 20% to 84,000 kilometers 02/17/19 Source: Tehran Times TEHRAN -- The Telecommunication Infrastructure Company will expand the national optical fiber network by 14,000 kilometers to 84,000 kilometers by the next two months, the company's managing director Sadeq Abbasi Shahkouh said, Mehr reported on Friday. Fiber optic cabling is already done in many roads and cities in different parts of the country, he added. The project which is done by the company affiliated to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry aims to expand national communication network for Internet service providers (ISPs), he noted. Besides the increase in capacities of optical fiber network, the network of transmission bandwidth and the national Internet Protocol (IP) are increased, he explained. "During past ten months, the capacity of IP increased three times, which increases National Network of Information," he said. The project aims to increase the capacity of infrastructures for ISPs and their quality, he added. With utilizing the capacities of IP networks, there is not deficiency in infrastructural facilities, he said. Abbasi Shahkouh said that the national communication network also developed through the project. In December 2018, ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi announced that Iran has already invested over five billion dollars to develop ICT infrastructures. Police In Tehran Fire In The Air To Disperse Protests Against Hijab Enforcement 02/17/19 Source: Radio Farda The Iranian government's official news agency (IRNA) has confirmed reports that police in a working-class neighborhood of Tehran fired shots in the air Friday February 15 evening after residents had a clash with morality enforcement agents. Iran has special morality police, which patrols the streets, especially to enforce hijab rules for women. Some agents of this special police stopped two young women for violating hijab rules. The women protested and onlookers began defending them. Police then took the women to their patrol van. Passersby intervened and ripped one of the vehicle's doors to free the women. At that point police resorted to firing in the air to deter the crowd. IRNA says the police "were forced" to fire shots in the air. Eventually, as protests continued, the morality police had to let the two women go free. Citizens have published many videos in the past showing passersby intervening to push back against the morality police or clergymen who stop women to chastise them for their head-cover or attire. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. New York, US (PANA) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, following consultations with the Chairpersons of the regional groups of Member States, has informed the General Assembly of his intention to appoint Inger Andersen of Denmark as the new Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) The Nigerian Army on Sunday said that in the last two weeks, its troops killed 37 bandits and rescued 80 kidnapped people in the troubled violent State of Zamfara in the northwest of the country File photo taken on Sept. 3, 2015 shows DF-26 missiles attending a military parade in Beijing, capital of China. Photo: Xinhua Long considered one of China's most inscrutable armed forces, the tight-lipped People's Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force opened its first social media accounts, with one humorously named "DF Express," a nickname conjured up by military enthusiasts years ago in praise of Dongfeng ballistic missiles' ability to strike a global target both quickly and accurately. The Rocket Force registered three verified accounts on Thursday afternoon, two on Sina Weibo and one on WeChat. The accounts were soon being followed by thousands of Chinese netizens even though the Rocket Force has yet to post anything. While the account on WeChat and one of the Weibo accounts are simply called "PLA Rocket Force," the other Weibo account was given the unusually informal name "DF Express," causing chuckles among Chinese military enthusiasts. The letters DF stand for Dongfeng, meaning East Wind, which is the name of a series of ballistic missiles operated by the Rocket Force. Netizens also noted DF Express is close to the name of one of China's largest courier companies, SF Express. Some years ago, Chinese military enthusiasts nicknamed the PLA Rocket Force the DF Express after netizens jokingly wrote that the missiles can "make fast and accurate deliveries to recipients worldwide." The Force's "DF Express" social media account now makes the nickname semi official and has already attracted more than 340,000 followers, almost twice as many as the "PLA Rocket Force" Weibo account, which has some 170,000 followers as of press time. The WeChat account does not show how many followers it has. The "PLA Rocket Force" WeChat account is expected to release its first post on Tuesday, PLA Daily reported. People can expect more information on this tight-lipped force through its social media accounts, analysts said. Compared with other military branches like the PLA Army and PLA Navy, the Rocket Force rarely makes public announcements. Many related departments and state-owned companies like the State Post Bureau and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation interacted with the newly-registered accounts. "Do you take orders, my brother? I want something delivered @DFExpress," the China National Nuclear Corporation joked on its Weibo account. The PLA Rocket Force was established on December 31, 2015 after its transformation from the previous Second Artillery Force. It is China's core strategic deterrent power, a pillar to sustain China's position as a major country and a footstone to safeguard national security, the PLA Daily said. 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. Oswego, NY (13126) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 84F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. One day that April, according to the petition, she heard a knock on her apartment door at 4:30 a.m. and heard him say, (Expletive), I can hear you. Another morning, she went to her car and found her windshield shattered. When she came home one day and parked her car, he walked to her doorstep and sat in front of the entryway. He called her a slur and asked why she didnt get out of the car. I just think theyre more lively. It just gave them a purpose. Life is about having things to look forward to. It gives us the will to want to live every day. So just knowing that they had that to look forward to it was just amazing, she said. Harneys home the Pine Castle on Lake Conway was one of the most visible landmarks in a Central Florida that was then mostly scrubby woods and cattle range. In 1870, Orange Countys population was only about 2,000. By 1880, it had tripled (and doubled again by 1885), fueled by railroads and, perhaps, by Harneys descriptions of Floridas charms. No wonder hes been called a one-man Chamber of Commerce. Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai hold strategic consultations in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Feb. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Keren) CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai held here Saturday strategic consultations and exchanged in-depth views on the South China Sea issue. Talking positively about the situation in the South China Sea which is getting stable, the two sides said the momentum has been strengthened in boosting dialogue, managing differences and deepening cooperation. They stressed that the countries concerned should continue the efforts to solve their disputes peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations. As both China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries are the parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), they should work together to safeguard the freedom of navigation in and the over-flight above the South China Sea in accordance with the law, as well as maintain the peace and stability in the South China Sea, they said. On China's proposal to complete talks on the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea within three years, the Thai foreign minister noted with appreciation. Don said Thailand is willing to join hands with other ASEAN countries to speed up the consultations to work out the regional rules which conforms to the reality of the region and are abided by all parties so as to benefit the region and the international community. What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com. Olean, NY (14760) Today Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High 82F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Stillwater, OK (74078) Today A mix of clouds and sunshine with gusty winds developing this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 98F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 74F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. In doing so, they proposed to make an already bad housing shortage worse. New York City has added more than 1.1 million jobs since 1991 but only 488,000 homes over the same time period. The Amazon news was a double-whammy not only would 25,000 new jobs be created without building homes to house the new workers, but 6,000 homes, which could have housed over 18,000 people, would be scrapped, widening the deficit even further. Chattahoochee Hills, Ga.: The carriage horse situation is a microcosm of what is wrong with this entire nation today. Justice, doing what is right, upholding individual rights and freedom, even avoiding doing something that is clearly wrong and harmful to those involved, takes a back seat to sustaining and increasing the power and authority of politicians to control the citizenry.This was never about traffic...we all know that, despite it being a DOT rule. Justice Arthur Engoron blatantly admitted that its not about the health or well being of the horses, citing that as irrelevant...which was the citys excuse for the DOT regulation to begin with, despite testimony from multiple equine experts on the damaging effects for the horses of moving them into an unfamiliar situation en masse, standing on downhill slopes instead of level ground, removed from easy access to their water trough,the list goes on. Its about the authority of government to exercise their power and control every facet of your life, to even destroy your livelihood if a special interest group donates enough cash to interest a politician like Bill de Blasio in doing so. The judicial branch is there to restrain government from violating your individual rights as a free people...not to uphold their right to decide when, where and how youre allowed to earn your living in a legal manner that causes harm to no one. Victorena Minchew The peripatetic onetime prosecutor and former governor of Massachusetts (and briefly candidate for New York chief exec) isn't who we thought might be the first Republican to dare tell the emperor that he has no clothes and remind the party that it once championed limited government, fiscal responsibility, the rule of law and character counting above all. We want to get in contact with other nationalists in Europe, as we strongly believe that free, independent countries are very important, said Per Sjogren of Swedens Nordic Resistance Movement. We want to regain the power from the globalists the people who are running the European Union, the people who are devastating Europe. People need to watch the hate and rage in Stephen Miller as he answers questions from Chris Wallace, the Trainwreck director tweeted. He is unhinged and clearly an evil force in this world. If he has to scream at Chris Wallace on @Fox News imagine what he says in private about these issues. When Mills tried crossing the checkpoint, he was halted by TSA agents. They then called police, authorities said. When officers tried arresting Mills, he reached into his pocket, and thats when unknown persons in the screening area yelled that he had a gun, police said. Its a great way for missionaries to be able to let out some of their feelings, frustrations and get support, said Utah resident Jaden Bryner, who did his mission in Chicago a decade ago. I think its going to be a good thing and help missionaries stay out there longer than they have in the past. Theres only a very small percentage of those criminals out there that want to fight us and want to attack us, but a lot of them, like these individuals, they know they made bad mistakes, bad choices but they want to do the right thing in life," Nocco told ABC Action News. Duensing said he filed for bankruptcy when he couldnt keep up with the bills after years of falling prices for commodities like corn and soybeans. Even after making moves to earn extra money, including selling land and equipment, Duensing said he is still carrying over $1 million in debt. "While todays news is a step toward justice for Sophie and her family, it is also a reminder of a traumatic chapter in our communitys history," he said. "If you are struggling with this news, please reach out for help." Joseph Joseph will be found in the bottom of water closet with three seats, back of the saloon near Doyles, on Ridge road. A drunk-crazed brain done the deed, and remorse and sorrow for the parents is bringing results which will soon come to an end. The demon whiskey will then have one more victim, making four in all. Drag the closet with three seats. The police officer was shot after initiating a traffic stop for an equipment violation. Authorities say Gray was the passenger in the front seat, and the officer was standing outside the vehicle on the driver's side. When he later sent a text and she didnt respond, he figured she had put her phone on do-not-disturb so that she could study, which is something he said that she often did when she was studying or [Kaylee] was napping, Frazee claimed, according to the lawsuit obtained by ABC. NYPD tragedy: Detective Brian Simonsen, 42, was killed Tuesday night, a victim of friendly fire as he and other cops confronted a robber with a fake gun. The shooting also wounded Sgt. Matthew Gorman, 34, who left the hospital on Thursday. The News broke down the chaotic Wild West shooting scene, detailed the criminal history of the suspect who once offered police his services as a superhero, and visited the Queens bodega where the slain detective will be missed. We also told you who Detective Simonsen was, a man who stayed so positive in the face of family tragedies he earned the nickname Smiles. "The guy said, Make my sandwich first, said deli clerk Majdi Hussain, 18, referring to one of the men who was wounded. Another guy said, Let him go, hes busy. He says, Why you talk to me like that? Im going to let him make my sandwich first, I dont care about nobody. The politicians penchant for perversion became public again in 2013 while he was in the middle of a mayoral campaign. Lewd texts sent by Weiner under the pseudonym Carlos Danger to a 22-year-old woman were uncovered and circulated online, effectively squashing his chances of winning the election. City Corrections Officer Richard Lue, 22, died at St. Barnabas Hospital of injuries he suffered early Monday when his car was propelled over a concrete barrier on the highway into the path of a westbound truck in the Cross Bronx Expressway. (Obtained by New York Daily News) Rome, GA (30161) Today Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 87F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low around 65F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by subscribing. The United States Embassy in Nigeria has thrown its weight behind the joint decision reached by the European Union Polls Observation Mis... The United States Embassy in Nigeria has thrown its weight behind the joint decision reached by the European Union Polls Observation Mission and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) elections observation mission on the postponement of the February 16, 2019, Presidential and National Assembly elections. The EU Observation Mission, ECOWAS and other election observers, had on Saturday in Abuja asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to finalise preparations and adhere strictly to the new February 23, 2019 date for the general elections. The mission noted that the suspension of the polls due to logistical and operational challenges had caused disappointment for many, admonishing the commission to provide regular updates and information to the public on its preparations in the coming days and weeks to enhance confidence and trust in the process. The U.S. Embassy in a statement issued by its Public Affairs Department said it fully supports the joint statement by the heads of the ECOWAS and other international election observation missions on the postponement of the February 16 Nigerian elections. It said: We join in encouraging all Nigerians to ensure a free, fair, peaceful, and credible election by supporting the Independent National Electoral Commission while it finalizes electoral preparations this week and by voting in peace together on February 23,2019. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had in the early morning of the election day announced the postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled to hold on February 16, 2019. Prof. Yakubu gave logistics reasons for the postponement of the elections. Sen. Andy Ubah, representing Anambra South Senatorial District in the Senate, has said that he was never arrested over any reason. ... Sen. Andy Ubah, representing Anambra South Senatorial District in the Senate, has said that he was never arrested over any reason. Ubah debunked the rumour in an interview he granted newsmen in Awka on Sunday. He said that he was surprised when his attention was drawn to the news in the media that he was arrested in Lagos with a huge sum of money. The senator who is the coordinator of President Mohammadu Buharis Presidential campaign in the South East dismissed the story as the handiwork of some mischief makers. He said he had reported the matter to the appropriate authorities and called on the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) to probe the matter to unravel its source. He said he was neither arrested nor being to Lagos where he was alleged to have been arrested for a while. Ubah also said that he did not belong to the political party attributed to him in the story. He said that he had been in Anambra for the past one week preparing for the general elections. I am surprised at (about) the rumour, I have not been to Lagos for a long time. The DSS and the police know the person that was arrested, it was not me and I am calling on them to clear the air on this. I demand a probe into the source of this rumour, he said. The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Lagos State Police Command, CSP Chike Oti on phone, she said that no police station had brought a case of an arrest involving Sen. Ubah to her office. Ubah, however, expressed regrets over the postponement of the presidential and the national assembly elections from Feb. 16 to Feb. 23 by INEC. He said that it was a price the country had to pay since INEC that announced the postponement considered it as a condition to get it right. He said the shift in date, notwithstanding, his party remained confident of victory on the rescheduled dates. (NAN) A movie producer, Faith Ojo, has lamented the shabby treatment she received from some Nollywood stars when she approached them to featur... A movie producer, Faith Ojo, has lamented the shabby treatment she received from some Nollywood stars when she approached them to feature in her forthcoming movie, The Reunion. Ojo said, We tried to work with many actors on this movie but they declined because they didnt know me or the director. I felt sad when I heard this. I am only trying to contribute to society and these people are trying to rubbish my efforts. Even if you are yet to work with a producer, there is always a first time. There is also a need to give everyone an opportunity to make it in this country. My decision to venture into movie production is not to help myself but to improve society and create jobs for the younger ones. She added, I have always been passionate about African arts. This is not the first time I would be investing in the movie industry. I was once defrauded but I learnt my lessons and I have decided to do things by myself. I plan to invest more money in cinema movies and television series. A former member, House of Representatives, Alhaji Ahmed Wadada, says the reasons tendered by the Independent National Electoral Commissi... A former member, House of Representatives, Alhaji Ahmed Wadada, says the reasons tendered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections are not convincing. Wadada, who is the Chairman, Nasarawa State All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Directorate, made the assertion in an interview with the newsmen on Sunday in Keffi. It was gathered that the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at the meeting with stakeholders on Saturday evening, attributed the one-week shift in the elections to logistic challenges and sabotage of the commissions efforts. The former lawmaker noted that the INEC Chairman repeatedly promised Nigerians that there would be no postponement of elections. INEC, as an election management body empowered by the law has been on the ground for years and has four-year intervals to prepare and conduct elections. I think it is most unacceptable for us to be taken off-guard barely 24 hours to the elections. The INEC Chairman did not attribute reasons for the postponement of election to security challenges, political intervention or financial hiccups. For me, I am not convinced by any of the reasons tendered by the INEC boss. The elections shift is most unfortunate, most sad and really discouraging. But as stakeholders, we will do everything possible to contend with the disappointment and sad development. And as Nigerians who are not only committed to democracy but also committed to the growth and development of democratic values, we have no choice than to accept the postponement and remain focussed and united to achieve what we want, Wadada said The former Chairman, House Committee on Information and National Orientation urged INEC to wake up to its responsibilities and discharge its mandate diligently. He also called on supporters of the party to remain focussed and not to be discouraged by the postponement. As far as I am concerned, the postponement will not affect, in any way, the chances of APC to win elections in Nasarawa State and Presidential elections by Gods grace, Wadada said. (NAN) The Coalition of United Political Parties on Sunday asked member parties to shun the directive by the Independent National Electoral Comm... The Coalition of United Political Parties on Sunday asked member parties to shun the directive by the Independent National Electoral Commission and resume campaigns ahead of the Saturdays presidential election. Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had during an interactive session with stakeholders in Abuja on Saturday said political parties could not resume campaigns despite the postponement of the presidential election earlier scheduled for February. Answering a question raised by a former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, who represented the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party at the session, Yakubu had said since the campaign for the election ended last Thursday, parties could not resume campaign again. But CUPP, in a statement by its national spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere, on Sunday said Yakubus position was unconstitutional. Ugochinyere said the nations Electoral Act stipulated that shall end 24 hours prior to the day of the election. He argued that since the presidential election had been shifted to Saturday, political parties are at liberty to resume campaign till midnight on Thursday. He, therefore, asked member parties to resume campaigns from Sunday and mobilise voters for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The statement read, In view of the provisions of Section 99 of the Electoral Act, the over 51 member parties of the Coalition of United Political Parties hereby direct all members to return to the campaigns fields and recommence campaigns and end by midnight of Thursday, February 21, 2019, as required by law. Section 99(1) of the Electoral Act provides that public campaigns shall end 24 hours prior to the day of polling. It is, therefore, wrong to expect that political parties will stop campaigns on February 14 for polls that will open on February 23. It is unlawful and statutorily wrong to curtail the clear intendment of this section of the Electoral Act which is clear and unambiguous. Campaigning until 24 hours prior to the day of polling is a statutory right of parties and cannot be taken away, curtailed or abridged by any executive fiat. INEC cannot, on its own accord, limit the period of campaigns as it is regulated by law. Member parties are hereby directed to continue campaigns from today (Sunday) and focus on voter remobilisation and ensure that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is elected and declared the winner of the presidential election. George F. Will, whose newspaper column has been syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group since 1974, today appears in more than 460 papers. He can be reached at georgewill@washpost.com. 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. The Coming events listings are for meetings that occur Monday through the following Sunday. These are published as a public service. The deadline for submitting items is noon Wednesday. Items may be mailed to Coming Events, St. Joseph News-Press, Box 29, St. Joseph, MO 64502 or e-mailed to leanna.murphy@newspressnow.com. The News-Press reserves the right to edit items as space requires. With 125 million citizens and the world's third largest GDP, Japan is an important market force. In fact, it comprises approximately 10 percent of the world's economy. Several global technology revolutions emerged in Japan and the country has recently embraced Western technologies. More businesses are partnering with Japanese companies to develop new products and services, fund research and development projects and test new technologies. It is also a large exporter and can provide an important gateway to the Asian market. Japanese employees tend to have a strong work ethic and employer loyalty, making this workforce an attractive option to help launch new businesses and take advantage of opportunities in the country. However, entry into the Japanese market can be intimidating for many foreign businesses. These obstacles are discussed in more detail below, along with a unique option involving a PEO that can help overcome them. What Are Common Challenges to Entering the Japanese Market? There are several challenges to entering the Japanese market. Japan is not a western country, and not all products or services will resonate with the customers. Companies may discover that they need to adapt their product line or marketing to appeal to this country's citizens. Another significant obstacle for many startups is that substantial investments may be necessary to launch a business in Japan. This demand for high amounts of capital can make the expansion to the Japanese market particularly risky for small- and mid-sized companies. Perhaps the biggest obstacles for companies is dealing with various bureaucracies in Japan. This country has a network of complex regulations, certifications and procedures that make it more difficult for companies to do business in the country, especially foreign countries. Government intervention may prevent many businesses from expanding to the Japanese market. What Is a PEO Organization? A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) is a separate business entity that provides human resources outsourcing services to businesses. Responsibilities are shared with the host organization. A PEO is the legal employer of record. Therefore, it is responsible for all human resources functions, payroll taxes and compliance matters. It is also responsible for dealing with Japanese bureaucracies. What Services Does a PEO in Japan Provide? The services a PEO provides depend on the organization and its contract with its client. New Horizons Global Partners' PEO in Japan services are all-encompassing and may include: a Recruitment efforts a We can help locate the best talent in Japan and other areas. We can handle pre-screening and preliminary interviews with candidates. These services are available in all locations throughout Japan, based on your work requirements. a Employment of local staff a We can directly hire your employees in Japan and become the official employer-of-record. This will meet all of the necessary requirements under the Japanese government. We then second these employees back to you under a services agreement so that you can manage the day-to-day operations of staff while we focus on all administrative duties. We can assist with the onboarding process and manage mandatory termination procedures and severance costs. a Payroll functions a We handle all aspects of payroll, including staff payroll, employee insurance, tax and withholdings. a Contract preparation a Our labor experts prepare contracts that are suited to your needs and that have successfully passed the scrutiny of Japanese labor authorities in previous applications. We can craft fixed-term, short-term, project-based, or open-ended contracts. a Tax compliance a Our tax experts ensure compliance with local and national laws regarding payroll contributions and withholding. We can also provide you with reports about each employee's payroll deductions and reimbursements. a Immigration compliance a If you have a talented team that you want to manage your new location or help launch your business in the Japanese market or you want to take advantage of labor markets in other countries, we can advise you on immigration compliance matters. We can assist with every step of the immigration process. a Legal functions a Our on-site legal team can assist you with the legal aspects of your business. We maintain strong relationships with local regulatory agencies. What Are the Benefits of Hiring a PEO? Hiring a PEO like New Horizons Global Partners can provide your business with many benefits, including: Minimal Capital Investment Is Necessary By using a PEO in Japan, you do not have to establish a separate legal entity. Therefore, your capital investment is minimal. You do not have to invest in infrastructure, real property or other aspects of operating a business out of Japan. Test the Market Using a PEO also allows you to test the Japanese market before you make substantial investments. You can conduct market research and determine if your product or service meets the needs of the local community. Market Entry Is Faster Because you do not have to establish a separate legal entity, learn about compliance matters or negotiate agreements with local regulatory agencies, you can enter the market much more quickly with the help of a PEO. You Get Expert Assistance Using a partner like New Horizons, you get the benefit of working with a business experienced with local regulatory agencies, establishing a legal presence in the country and locating and supporting your personnel in Japan. You Minimize Risk As the employer of record, New Horizons takes on all the risk of employing your staff. We ensure compliance at all times. Contact us today to learn about how we can help with your business expansion goals. Don't go looking for titillation at your local convenience store.aAs reported last month, Japan's three largest convenience chain operators - 7-Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson - are planning to halt sales of pornographic magazines nationwide by the end of August. While the operators pointed to their increasingly diversified customer base as a reason for ending sales, the large number of foreign visitors expected next year for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics is also said to have contributed to the move. Pornographic material has typically been displayed in convenience stores in a separate section, with outlets in some areas using plastic string or gummed tape to prevent browsers from flipping through the contents and possibly annoying other patrons, especially minors. Internet users were of differing opinions on the new policy, with one Livedoor commentator opining that the mere sight of such publications was "unpleasant for women and children." "I'll be happy when they're gone," he wrote. "It's a sight never encountered in convenience stores overseas and, if we take this logic to an extreme, might not the sales of adult magazines in convenience stores be part of the underlying logic that explains why sexual matters in Japan tend to be treated in such a flippant manner?" Still, the pornographic publications also had their defenders, with one poster commenting, "To halt sales of these magazines will put greater pressure on the publishing industry to impose voluntary restraints, and I think freedom of expression may suffer." The move by the convenience stores is also significant because they have become dominant in retailing of print media. The Mainichi Shimbun last June reported that bookstores, some of which also dispense pornographic publications, have been going out of business at the average rate of 514 a year, with 9,770 shops having closed between 1999 and 2017. The number of stores nationwide is expected to drop below 10,000 by sometime next year. - Japan Times When Chie Takaiwa struck up the courage to reveal a family secret to her colleague some years ago, she was met by an unexpected response. The 37-year-old coffee stall worker's father hails from a riverbank community in Fukuoka Prefecture that is known as a buraku, a term meaning "hamlet" used to describe areas inhabited by descendants of outcasts from the feudal era. The sensitive nature of the issue requires Takaiwa to be cautious when discussing her background with others and she generally avoids people who have parochial views. "I asked whether she was aware of the buraku issue and she said, 'Yes,'" Takaiwa, who was born and raised in Tokyo, recalls. "She then said something that caught me off guard. She said that I didn't look mixed race." It turned out Takaiwa's co-worker was confusing buraku with a similar sounding English word - "burakku" (black) - and was under the impression that her father was not Japanese. Such misconceptions are increasingly common, Takaiwa and others with buraku ancestry say, especially among younger generations unfamiliar with the term or the complex history surrounding burakumin, or the buraku people, who are ethnically indistinguishable from other Japanese. The episode may reflect the changing attitudes toward a social minority that has been ostracized over centuries for its historical association with what was once considered "unclean" occupations stigmatized by death and blood: butchers, leatherworkers, executioners and undertakers, to name a few. However, that's not to say buraku discrimination is a thing of the past. It continues to manifest itself in various forms, including in marriage and employment prospects, and has evolved with technology, finding a platform online where personal information is often disseminated with little regulation or oversight. - Japan Times The British govern - ment yesterday dismissed as a hiccup its latest parliamentary defeat over Brexit, saying it would press on with trying to renegotiate its EU divorce deal as exit day looms in just six weeks. But as Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to return to Brussels next week, a senior minister conceded the latest display of divisions in London risked affecting the talks. Yesterday was more of a hiccup than the disaster thats being reported, Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, told BBC radio. She added: The one problem with last nights vote is that it allows the EU to continue with this pretence that they dont know what we want. And they do know what we want. On Thursday night, MPs rejected a motion expressing support for Mays efforts to seek changes to her Brexit deal, after members of her own Conservative party abstained. Downing Street insisted the original mandate MPs gave to May on January 29, to amend the so-called backstop plan to keep Britains border with Ireland free-flowing after Brexit, still stood. But the defeat exposed once again how far parliament remains from any agreement on Brexit, fuelling growing frustration in the EU. It is unbelievable really that the British government and the British parliament have allowed it to come to this, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said in Dublin. No-deal Brexit is crazy After MPs overwhelmingly rejected Mays withdrawal deal on January 15, she promised to amend the backstop which, as drafted, risks keeping Britain tied indefinitely to EU trade rules. But Brussels has repeatedly said it will not change the withdrawal agreement agreed last November after almost two years of tough negotiations. And despite Britain being scheduled to leave the bloc on March 29, May has yet to present a viable alternative plan. The impasse raises the real risk that Britain severs ties with its closest trading partner in a six weeks time with no new arrangements in place. A no deal Brexit is crazy and needs to be avoided and in my view will be avoided, Coveney said. But we simply dont know how yet because the British parliament itself doesnt even know what its asking for. With pressure mounting on all sides to make some progress, Leadsom told the BBC that the prime minister would return to Brussels for talks within days. May has also had phone calls with numerous EU leaders this week, including Germanys Angela Merkel. Brexit minister Stephen Barclay will meet EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday, while opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will visit the Frenchman on Thursday. The government motion put to MPs on Thursday night sought to reaffirm the mandate given to May on January 29 to renegotiate her deal. But there were two votes that day last month: for a new plan for the Irish border, but also to request that Britain avoid a no deal scenario. China must be involved in international disarmament efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, amid rising concern about Beijings missile arsenal and the suspension of a key US-Russia arms treaty. Disarmament is something that concerns us all and where we would, of course, be glad if such talks were held not just between the United States, Europe, and Russia but also with China, said Merkel. The United States began pulling out of a landmark Cold War missile control agreement with Russia, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, this month in response to Moscows deployment of the 9M729 missile, prompting Russia to announce its own withdrawal. While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and Moscow have also voiced concern that the INF -- a bilateral treaty between the US and Russia -- does nothing to constrain rapidly growing military power China. The Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA) Board of Directors approved ambitious expansion plans for 2019 during a regular meeting chaired by the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications and GAA Chairman, Kamal Ahmed. The plans include purchasing a fourth Airbus A320 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) and introducing new logistics and aviation training programmes that will enhance the academys capacity and efficiency, enabling it to meet the growing needs of this important sector. The additional FFS will help to ease the burden on the academys existing simulators, which are currently operating at 100 percent capacity in order to meet local and regional training requirements. In addition, a joint training agreement with the European Civil Aviation Authority will increase the number of aviation training programmes offered in 2019, covering aviation safety, airport security, air transport, and airspace control. The minister praised the academys executive management for their dedicated efforts to achieve Gulf Air Group Holdings goals, noting that enhancing the efficiency of specialised training programmes related to logistics is an important step in the development of the civil aviation sector, and in line with the Kingdoms Vision 2030 goal to increase non-oil revenues. He also praised the GAA for expanding its geographic reach, offering services from Bahrain to a client base extending from the Indian sub-continent to Europe. He stressed the importance of helping GAA to achieve its objectives, which have direct and indirect effects on the Kingdom, highlighting the importance of partnerships with local bodies such as Gulf Air Group Holding and Tamkeen. The Ambassador of the Kingdom, Abdulla Abdullatif Abdullah, chaired the Kingdoms delegation participating in the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC), held in Munich from February 15 to17, with the participation of a number of heads of states and governments as well as foreign and defense ministers from around the world. The Chairman of the MSC, Wolfgang Ischingerm delivered a speech in which he called for political solutions to all disputes whether inside or outside Europe, warning against the increase of organized crime and armament. President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Chairperson of the African Union, Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, President of the Republic of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel and the Vice President of the United States of America, Mike Pence, also delivered speeches at the conference. Bahrain yesterday condemned the terrorist attack that targeted a security checkpoint in North Sinai, Egypt, which resulted in the martyrdom and injury of a number of security officers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery. The ministry affirmed its solidarity and support to all measures taken by Egypt to preserve its security and stability. It stressed the Kingdoms firm position that rejects all forms of violence, extremism, and terrorism and called for concerted international efforts to end terrorism and cut its sources of funding. Fifteen Egyptian military personnel were killed or wounded in a clash in North Sinai in which seven militants were also killed, the Egyptian military said. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack on its news agency AMAQ. It said it killed at least 15 Egyptian troops, revising an earlier figure of 20 killed south of the provincial capital of Arish after clashes with various kinds of weapons. The group did not provide evidence for its claim. Security forces launched a campaign a year ago against Islamist militants focused on Egypts Sinai peninsula, and said they have killed several hundred militants since then. The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Community Perspective Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer. Letters to the editor Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer. Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High around 75F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Some clouds. Low 54F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. (Newser) From a self-proclaimed caliphate that once spread across much of Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State group has been knocked back to a speck of land on the countries' shared border, the AP reports. In that tiny patch on the banks of the Euphrates River, hundreds of militants are hiding among civilians under the shadow of a small hillencircled by forces waiting to declare the territorial defeat of the extremist group. A spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighting the militants said Sunday that the group is preventing civilians from leaving the area, closing a corridor from which nearly 40,000 residents have managed to escape since December. "They are taking their last breath," says an SDF fighter. story continues below For weeks, the militants fought desperately for their shrinking territory. Once in control of about a third of Syria and Iraq, they now are down to what SDF officials describe as a small tented village atop a network of tunnels and caves. But they are holding on to hundreds of civilianssome of them possibly hostagestaking cover among them at the edge of a village in eastern Deir el-Zour province in Syria. As civilians trickled out of the enclave in recent weeks, the SDF and coalition officials screened them. Khatib Othman, an SDF fighter, came back from the front line a few days ago to take a break. "We want to take revenge," he said. "We will not let the blood of our martyrs go to waste." The capture of the last pocket of IS territory in either Syria or Iraq would mark the end of a four-year global campaign to crush the extremist group's so-called caliphate. (Read more ISIS stories.) (Newser) For nearly four years, Gavin Grimm has been suing his former school district after it banned him from using the boys bathrooms in high school. The school board in Virginia will finally hold a public hearing Tuesday to discuss allowing transgender students to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Grimm said the policy "is far from perfect, but would represent an important first step." The Gloucester County School Board's meeting comes just months before a trial over its current bathroom rules. But that's not Grimm's only beef with the board, reports the AP: A federal judge ruled Thursday that he can sue over its refusal to change the gender on his transcript, which lists him as female. Grimm says the transcript will stigmatize him every time he applies to a college or for a job. "I shouldn't have to be outed against my will," Grimm said from the Bay Area, where he moved after graduating in 2017. story continues below A court order legally made Grimm a man. And he is listed as male on his birth certificate, passport, and a state-issued ID card in California. The issue of Grimm's transcript highlights another concern in the transgender community that remains far from settled across the nation. "We would hope states offer clear guidance," said Francisco Negron Jr., chief legal officer for the National School Boards Association. "The alternative is that students would have to make the case on their own, and school districts would not have the benefit of clarity under state law." Since moving to California, Grimm has been studying at a community college and working as an activist and educator. He's been able to avoid submitting his transcript to anyone so far. But that will likely change soon. "I'm still tethered to 2017 by this document," he said. "It's unfair that a high school that put me through so much is able to wield that much negative influence over my adult life." (Read more Gavin Grimm stories.) (Newser) The family of a British teenager who ran away to join the Islamic State group said Sunday she has given birth to a baby boy. The family's lawyer said that 19-year-old Shamima Begum and her latest baby are in good health. Begum is living in a refugee camp in northern Syria and wants to return to Britain with her child, reports the AP. Begum was one of a group of schoolgirls from London's Bethnal Green neighborhood who went to Syria to marry ISIS fighters in 2015 at a time when the group's online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate. She told the Times newspaper that her first two babies had died of illness and malnutrition. She told the newspaper she does not regret her decision to join the extremists, who have lost virtually all of the territory once under their control in Syria and Iraq. story continues below Her legal situation remains unclear. She may face charges for supporting the banned extremist group. Two days before the baby's birth was announced, Begum's family in Britain said they were "shocked" by her comments but said she should be brought back to Britain and dealt with under the British justice system. "The welfare of Shamima's unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby, who is entirely blameless in these events," the family said in the statement. The family said it is concerned about Begum's mental health and characterizes her as having been groomed by Islamic State fighters. (The UK is not exactly welcoming Begum's attempt to return home.) (Newser) Angela Merkel got a standing ovation; Mike Pence, polite applause. Now the media is hashing out the starkly different policy prescriptions they presented Saturday at a Munich security conference. Facing an audience peppered with influential figureslike a senior Chinese official, Russia's foreign minister, and Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trumpthe German chancellor resisted US demands that Europe ditch the Iran nuclear deal, saying it's easier to influence Iran on other issues by keeping a hand in, per the New York Times. She also criticized President Trump's move to abandon the Intermediate Range Missile Treaty with Russia and pull US troops out of Syria. "Is that not also strengthening the possibilities for Iran and Russia to exert influence there?" she asked. story continues below When Pence spoke, another vision emerged: "The time has come for the Europeans to leave the Iranian nuclear deal," he said. "The Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust, and it seeks the means to achieve it." He also criticized Germany for accepting the Nordstream 2 pipeline that would deliver Russia's gas to Germans. "We can't ensure the defense of the West if our allies are dependent on the East," he said. The Merkel-Pence divide highlighted other points of conflict, like the new European company INSTEX designed to keep economic ties with Iran, and the notion that German cars are a "national security threat" to America. See more about their speechesand people's reactionsat the Wall Street Journal, Politico.eu, and the Washington Post. (Read more Iran nuclear deal stories.) (Newser) The family of a woman shot dead by Baltimore police was initially awarded $38 million. Now, that award is zero. A Baltimore County judge cited the doctrine of "civil liability" Thursday in rescinding the award to the family of Korryn Gaines, 23, who was killed during a six-hour standoff with police in 2016, the New York Times reports. "The evidence is clear," writes Judge Mickey Norman, per CNN. "This Court has found that Corporal [Royce] Ruby is entitled to qualified immunity and therefore, his shooting of Gaines was not unlawful." Qualified immunity is a doctrine maintaining that government officials on the job are protected from civil liability as long as they don't violate a person's constitutional rights. And by opening fire, Norman ruled, Ruby was only doing his job. story continues below The standoff began on Aug. 1, 2016, in Randallstown when police serving warrants for Gaines and her boyfriend say they found her with a shotgun and her 5-year-old boy, Kodi. Ruby says he fired when she raised her weapon, and kept firing when it discharged; his bullets wounded Kodi and killed Gaines. Her family disputes that account, saying she didn't raise the gun and officers were protected behind a brick wall. Either way, prosecutors declined to press criminal charges, but a civil trial granted Gaines' family the award. Now Norman has sided with the officer and relied on a doctrine that has raised concerns about police abuse, per the Times. An attorney representing Kodiwho was set to receive nearly $33 millionsays they plan to appeal, per the Baltimore Sun. (Read more police shooting stories.) (Newser) Parents of Mormon missionaries will be able to hear their children's voices a lot more often under new rules announced Friday that allow the proselytizing youngsters to call home every week instead of only twice a year. The move is aimed at encouraging families to be more involved in the missionary experience, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a news release. Missionaries can call, text, or do video chats once a week on a designated day called preparation day. Previously, they were only allowed to call home on Christmas and Mother's Day. They could email or send letters once a week. The immediate change affects 65,000 Mormons serving on worldwide missions that are considered rites of passage, reports the AP. story continues below The change triggered a slew of reaction among Mormons on social media, with some applauding the move and others expressing concern the faith was getting too soft with missionaries. Others joked that some youngsters may not want to talk with their parents every week. Mormon scholar Matthew Bowman said he suspects the change is related to the 2012 church decision to lower the age for missionaries; from 21 to 19 for women and from 19 to 18 for men. There have been reports of more missionaries experiencing anxiety and wanting to come home, said Bowman. "The idea here is to keep their spirits up and morale up and lower the degree of separation that they're dealing with." (Read more Mormon stories.) (Newser) New DNA testing has led to an arrest in the horrifying 1993 rape and murder of a young Alaska woman, Fox News reports. Alaska State Troopers announced the arrest Friday of Steven Downs, 44, a registered nurse now living in Maine, in the case of Sophie Sergie, who was only 20 when she was raped, stabbed, and shot in the head while visiting friends at University of Alaska Fairbanks campusa crime troopers and residents were unable to forget. "For more than 20 years, AST continued to receive info about Sophie's murder," says Colonel Barry Wilson, head of the Alaska State Troopers. "Each tip generated a response by members of the cold case unit hoping to break the case." story continues below Only by revisiting the case in 2018 did detectives catch a break. They submitted a DNA profile from the crime scene to a genealogy testing website, got a match to a likely suspect, and confirmed it through further testing at the Maine State Crime Lab, KTUU reports. What's more, the charging document says Downs was an 18-year-old UAF student living in the same dorm where Sophie Sergie was raped and murdered; his roommate at the time told authorities Downs had a .22 handgun, the same caliber used to kill Sergie. But Downs didn't confess: "I remember the pictures, it's terrible, poor girl," he told investigators, per the Anchorage Daily News. Downs has been extradited to Alaska and has no court date so far. (This DNA method was used to catch the Golden State Killer suspect.) Renters Get What Is Likely Their Last Reprieve Champaign, IL (61820) Today Windy early...thunderstorms likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High around 80F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. By PTI ANKARA: Turkey has not yet revealed all the information it has discovered about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday. "We haven't given all the elements we have at our disposal," the Turkish head of state said during an interview with the A-Haber television channel. After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Turkish woman Hatice Cengiz. Turkey has said the journalist 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, which has not been found. Riyadh has arrested a number of senior Saudi officials allegedly involved in the murder. Khashoggi, Washington Post contributor, was a fierce critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denies any involvement in the murder. Ankara "is determined to bring this case before international justice," said Erdogan, calling on the United States to weigh in this case. By PTI WASHINGTON: The US deputy attorney general discussed how many cabinet members would support removing US President Donald Trump from office in 2017, the FBI's former acting director said in an interview airing Sunday. Andrew McCabe said invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution was raised by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Trump fired FBI director James Comey on May 9, 2017. "Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort," McCabe told CBS's "60 Minutes" news show. A clip of that part of the interview was run early Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" show, the first time McCabe's actual comments on the explosive subject have been aired. Rosenstein has dismissed reports that he discussed removing Trump from office -- and even pondered wearing a wire to secretly record his conversations with the president -- as a "joke," if indeed he made the comments. In the interview, McCabe was asked whether Rosenstein seemed intent on "getting rid of the president of the United States one way or another." "I can't confirm that," he said. ALSO READ | Donald Trump to nominate ambassador to Turkey after post was vacant 16 months "But what I can say is the deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time." The president abruptly fired Comey amid tensions over the FBI's investigation into possible links between Trump's 2016 campaign and a covert Russian effort to sway the US election in his favour. Comey has said that Trump had been pressuring him to publicly declare that he was not a subject of the investigation. The firing set off alarm bells at the FBI, and McCabe told CBS he scrambled to ensure that the Russia probe was on "absolutely solid ground" so it could not easily be shelved. He told CBS he did not remember how the 25th Amendment came up in the discussion with Rosenstein. "It was just another kind of topic that he jumped to in the midst of a wide-ranging conversation," he said. The 25th Amendment sets out a process for the replacement of the president in the event of death, removal, resignation or incapacitation. McCabe himself was fired in March 2018 for "lack of candor" in an internal investigation into the FBI's handling of a 2016 probe into Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. By PTI BEIRUT: Regime bombardment has killed 18 civilians in the last major region outside government control in northwest Syria over the past 48 hours, a war monitor said Saturday. Artillery and rocket fire launched by regime forces took the lives of eight children, seven women and three men in the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The deadly bombardment hit the towns of Maaret al-Noman and Khan Sheikhun, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information. Idlib region is mainly controlled by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Syrian group led by former Al-Qaeda fighters, after they last month pushed back smaller, Turkey-backed rebel outfits. Since September, the region has been protected from a massive regime offensive by a ceasefire deal brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey. But sporadic regime bombardment has continued to hit the region, and hundreds of missiles rained down on Maaret al-Noman, Khan Sheikhun, and other areas on Friday and Saturday. Almost eight years into Syria's grinding civil war, President Bashar al-Assad's regime controls around two-thirds of the country. His army and allied fighters have made great gains against rebels and jihadists since Russia's military intervened on the side of Damascus in 2015. The war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests, and has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers that has killed more than 360,000 people. Friday and Saturday's deadly bombardment comes as the world waits for US-backed forces to expel the Islamic State group from a final holdout in eastern Syria, marking the end of the jihadists' self-declared "caliphate". By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said nobody can browbeat the country for the brutal Pulwama terror attack even as he offered to fully cooperate in any probe into the incident if India shares any evidence with it. Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. Qureshi, in a recorded a video message from Germany where he is attending the Munich Security Conference, claimed that India, without investigation, in a knee-jerk reaction, blamed Pakistan for the attack. "It is easy to blame Pakistan but it will not solve the problem and the world will not be convinced," he said in the message which was released by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on its official Twitter account. He said nobody can browbeat Pakistan by blaming it for he attack. "We know how to defend ourselves. We can also present out point of view across the world. Our message is peace and not conflict," Qureshi said. In a strong warning to Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday declared those responsible will pay a "very heavy price" and said the security forces have been given a free hand to decide on the timing, place and nature of their response to the carnage. "A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their patrons," Modi asserted. Qureshi said Pakistan was ready to fully cooperate with India if it shares evidence. "If India has any evidence (about the involvement of elements in Pakistan in the Pulwama attack), it should share with us. We will investigate with full honesty and see if it was right. And I say with full confidence that we will cooperate. Because we do not want disturbance," he said. Condemning the incident, the foreign minister said, "Violence neither was, nor is our policy." By PTI JERUSALEM: Israel and Palestine have both condemned the "abhorrent" and "heinous" Pulwama terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir and expressed their condolences. Forty CRPF soldiers were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus on Thursday. The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his messages to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Palestinians are "saddened by the tragic attack... and on this painful occasion, they express condemnation of this terrorist attack". "On this painful occasion, we condemn this abhorrent act and we offer condolences to you, your people, your government and the families of the victims. We express our alliance and solidarity with you and your people. May god have mercy on the victims and their families," Abbas wrote in his letter to Modi. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed solidarity with his Indian counterpart Modi, saying the Jewish nation stood behind India after the "heinous" terror attack. "To my dear friend, Prime Minister of India @narendramodi, 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," the Israeli Prime Minister said in a tweet. Netanyahu, who was scheduled to meet Modi on February 11 but postponed due to other international engagements, is still looking for a convenient date to travel to New Delhi before April 9 elections in Israel. Meanwhile, people from the Indian community in Israel took out a candle light march on Saturday and stood in silence for two minutes to honour the Indian soldiers. "Our tolerance has been interpreted as a sign of weakness. We should learn from the Israelis and teach the perpetrators of this heinous crime a strong lesson," Ravi Soma, President of Israel-Telengana Association, said. "Indians living in Israel are quite agitated and demand our government to punish Pakistan's ISI and its terror groups," Soma said. Some 40 Indians from Telengana, most of them working in Israel as caregivers, gathered in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv and held a prayer meeting followed by a candle march waving Indian national flag. By PTI TEHRAN: India and Iran, after suffering from two "heinous" terrorist attacks in the past few days, have agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi here. The meeting between Swaraj and Araghchi came hours after Iran's Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to Paistan-based terror outfit Jaish al-Adl, said the government of Pakistan must pay the price of harbouring these terrorist groups and this price will undoubtedly be very high. Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused Pakistan's security forces of supporting the perpetrators of a suicide bombing in which 27 troops were killed on Wednesday. India has also blamed Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday that killed 40 CRPF troops. Swaraj, during a brief stopover in Tehran on her way to Bulgaria, met Deputy Foreign Minister Araghchi and discussed bilateral issues on Saturday. The two countries agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. "Iran and India suffered from two heinous terrorist attacks in the past few days resulted in big casualties. Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj the Indian FM, when she had a stopover in Tehran, we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough!" Araghchi said in a tweet. Iran & India suffered from two heinous terrorist attacks in the past few days resulted in big casualties. Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj the Indian FM, when she had a stopover in Tehran, we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough! pic.twitter.com/uvwlx45pZ6 Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) February 16, 2019 In Iran, tens of thousands of people called for "revenge" at the funeral of the troops killed in a suicide attack by terrorists. Tehran has accused Pakistan of supporting them. In India, at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle with explosives into their bus. Pakistan-based terror group JeM claimed responsibility for the attack on the CRPF convoy. In a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack, India has highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. By PTI CHICAGO: The victims of a disgruntled employee who opened fire at a suburban Chicago industrial warehouse were co-workers ranging from an intern to the plant manager. A look at the victims: Trevor Wehner The 21-year-old Northern Illinois University student was on his first day as an intern in human resources at Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora and attended the fateful meeting where the gunman was fired and then started shooting. Jay Wehner said his nephew grew up about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Aurora in Sheridan and was expected to graduate from Northern Illinois University in May with a degree in human resource management. He was on the dean's list at NIU's business college. "He always, always was happy," Jay Wehner said. "I have no bad words for him. He was a wonderful person. You can't say anything but nice things about him." Clayton Parks The 32-year-old from Elgin, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Aurora, had just joined Henry Pratt in November 2018 as HR manager responsible for operations in Aurora, Illinois, Hammond, Indiana and Denver, the company said. He also was in the meeting where the gunman was being fired from his job. Parks was married and had an infant son Axel, according to a Facebook post by his wife Abby. "Every time I've closed my eyes over the last twelve hours, I've opened them hoping to wake from a terrible dream, but that's not the case," Abby posted. "I'm living my worst nightmare. My husband, my love, my best friend." Parks was a 2014 graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Business. Vicente Juarez Neighbours remembered Vicente Juarez as a hard-working grandfather and rock of his tight-knit family. Juarez was shot outside the meeting where the gunman was being fired from his job. Juarez had been employed at Henry Pratt since 2006 and was a member of the shipping and warehouse team in Aurora. He had held several other jobs previously in the warehouse, the company said. The Chicago Tribune reported that Juarez lived with his wife, adult daughter and four grandchildren in a subdivision in Oswego, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of Aurora Relatives declined comment, saying they appreciate the support but are still dealing with the shock. Neighbour Julie Zigman called Juarez "the patriarch of the family" and said "everyone looked to him." Neighbour Joven Ang said anytime he was working outside Juarez asked him if he needed help. "That's the kind of person he was," Ang said. Josh Pinkard A native of Alabama, Pinkard became plant manager at Henry Pratt in the spring of 2018. He was also in the meeting with the gunman. The company said Pinkard, 37, joined the parent company 13 years ago at its Albertville, Alabama facility. The father of three earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Mississippi State University and a master's degree from University of Arkansas, according to his LinkedIn account. "He loved God, his family and Mississippi State sports," a cousin wrote in a text to the Chicago Tribune that he said was written on behalf of Pinkard's wife, Terra. Russ Beyer The company said Beyer was an employee at Henry Pratt for more than 20 years during which time he held most of the different jobs in the plant. He was shot outside the meeting. Beyer had served as union chairman. By PTI THE HAGUE: India will ask the UN's top court Monday to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court. The International Court of Justice urgently ordered Pakistan in 2017 to stay the execution of Jadhav, pending hearings on the broader Indian case that take place this week in The Hague. The rare foray into the international courts for the nuclear-armed rivals could be another flashpoint after Thursday's suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 41 troops. New Delhi's lawyers will present their arguments on Monday to the court, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, followed by Pakistan's on Tuesday. Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was accused of working for the Indian intelligence services in the province bordering Afghanistan, where Islamabad has long accused India of backing separatist rebels. After a closed trial he was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on April 10, 2017, on charges of "espionage, sabotage and terrorism". India insists Jadhav was not a spy, and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi in court documents is asking that the ICJ order Islamabad to annul the sentence. It accused Islamabad of violating the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access, as well as breaking human rights law. If Pakistan is unable to quash Jadhav's death sentence, Islamabad should be found in violation of international law and treaties, and be told to "release the convicted Indian national forthwith", India said. India accused Pakistan in 2017 of harassing Jadhav's family during a visit, saying their meeting was held in an "atmosphere of coercion". Islamabad reacted coolly to the ICJ's urgent order to stay Jadhav's execution at the time, saying it "has not changed the status of commander Jadhav's case in any manner". The ICJ's decision will likely come months after this week's hearings. The last time India and Pakistan took a dispute to the ICJ was in 1999 when Islamabad protested at the downing of a Pakistani navy plane that killed 16 people. The tribunal decided that it was not competent to rule in the dispute and closed the case. Osama Jalali By When it comes to eating outlets Delhi has always been divided into pockets. Areas like Greater Kailash and Defence Colony usually are the choices for restaurant business. But in recent times I have noticed that even the Nehru Place area around the metro station has mushroomed with new food joints. Latest find for me at Nehru place is Tuk Tuk Asia a nice fun loving pan Asian restaurant. Right from the entrance it has got a very positive vibe uplifting the mood, supported by the warm hospitable staff. Decor is done in red and seating is comfortable and cosy. Menu is elaborate and offers all the famous street food gems from Asia. It was a cold evening and a bowl of soup seemed to be the perfect choice to start. For me it was a Singaporean Laksa which came piping hot on my table and acted as an antidote for my blocked nose. The flavors of Laksa reminded me of my visit to Singapore where I had it at a small road side restaurant. Then I ordered a Sushi boat having all signature variants at Tuk Tuk Asia. They do slightly modern variants which is good. Spicy Tuna with apple tartar and Prawn Tempura with a spicy mayo came out really well. Poached pears and Mango relish maki really surprised me. Dashed with Japanese vinegar this fruit version was worth a bite. Even the dimsum offerings, done in various colors and shapes, have a great visual appeal. Prawn Har gao and Charcoal Lamb both distinct in flavors sufficed my craving for dimsums. Singaporean chilli crab served along Mantou Bun had a distinct presentation. Crab was flavorful, complimented by the spicy sauce which went well with the bun. To all the rice lovers who usually order a portion of fried rice with their Asian curries I would suggest to try Tuk Tuks Bamboo Goreng for a change. Steamed in a real bamboo flavored with basil and coconut its a nice option to choose and is a complete dish in itself even if you want to avoid it pairing with a bowl of curry. Usually Asian restaurants are short on the desserts but Tuk Tuk offers a good range. The chocolate burger is one such creation which will appeal to the masses and can be a safe bet to end the Asian food tour. Address: Ground floor Eros Corporate Tower, Nehru Place Meal for 2: Rs 1600 plus taxes Express News Service By NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has granted interim protection from arrest to activist-journalist Sushil Pandit, who has been booked for allegedly tweeting fake news related to the death of five CRPF personnel in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pampore area in May last year. The court noted that he has already approached the Jammu and Kashmir High Court for quashing of the FIR and for interim protection and said the relief was being granted to Pandit till his plea is taken up for consideration by the local court there. It is clarified that protection to the petitioner shall continue till the time the application of the petitioner is taken up for consideration by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and would be subject to further orders passed by the J&K High Court, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said. An FIR was filed against him in May last year at Pampore police station following his tweet, which was alleged to be in contravention of Section 505 (statement conducting to public mischief) of the RPC. (With agency inputs) Rehna Abdul Kareem By "You might remember me from this tiny show called MasterChef Australia, is how the twinkly-eyed chef introduces himself in the latest trailer for his collaboration with Indian design brand, Nicobar. Together with his wife Mandy Mehigan, Australian chef Gary Mehigan has launched Indian Ocean, a range of tableware and cookware that brings together Indian and Australian culture in its craft, design and application. I love using beautiful cookware and cutlery when we cook, and eat with friends, says Mandy Mehigan. I think cookware is important because it sets a tone and feeling whether thats at home or in a restaurant. Mandy also shares with us how she has a habit of turning a particular tableware upside down to see where it is from. Gary and Jenna, my 17-year-old daughter, always tell me off! says Mandy with a smile. We ask her about the collaboration with Nicobars Raul Rai and Simran Lal and she says, Gary has travelled extensively in India, and he is in love with the place and the people like Raul and Simran to name a few. One of the first gifts that he brought me home from India was from Nicobar, and I love their stores. Inspired by coral elements, the range brings a rather kitschy allure to your kitchen as well. Rajkumari Sharma Tankha By Astha Butail lives by the idiom- A joyous being is a free being. With joy, one brings a possibility of the impossible. And joy is something she looks for in everything she does. She is not a simple painter but a multidisciplinary artist who uses different mediums like video, sculpture and experiential installations to convey her messages. This doesnt come as a surprise as art runs in her genes her nani studied at Lahore College of Art, her mother is an artist and both her brother and sister are designers. I got into art after seeing my sister painting. I was eight then. My first teacher, Prem Bhai at Pondicherry, further strengthened my belief and learning, she says. Her ongoing solo show In the Absence of Writing at The Gujral Foundations experimental site in Jor Bagh includes works from her year-long journey in researching memory and living traditions that are passed on through teachings and oral poetry, with a focus on Zoroastrian Avesta, the Jewish Oral Torah and Indian Vedic philosophy. The fact that these three come from the same time period (each is about 4000-5000 years old) fascinated and encouraged her to study the links they had. Sure enough, her journey helped uncover the manner in which knowledge is not only preserved, but also performed. Astha travelled to Varanasi, Udaipur, places in South India, Yazd (Iran), Jerusalem (Israel), and London, and recorded different memory techniques. I also interviewed scholars, students and practitioners of each tradition. In oral traditions, sound and pronunciation are key, and knowledge is often memorised and transferred using mathematical patterns, she informs. In the Absence of Writing is a suite of works whose titles are fragments of hymns from the Rig Veda. I have incorporated a range of media to offer glimpses into the architecture of collective memory using video, sound, sculpture and interactive installations to respond to the notions of space and time, values and culture, history and identity, she says. Her multi-dimensional approach interweaves the five elements of nature with the five senses, making the artworks interactive and experiential. Calling her journey a miracle because she met with the right people, she says, In India, my journey started with talks and interviews with professors from Delhi University and JNU. After that I visited Varanasi, Udaipur, Kanchipuram, Auroville and Pondicherry. Each of these journeys started on the full moon day. In Iran, the journey started on Dec 21, celebrated with an ancient festival, Yalda. In Israel, the journey ended with a full moon festival Purim. At each destination, the timing was special. At times, I felt exhausted but it was a memorable experience, more so as I had taken my 2.5-year-old son along, she adds. All praise for The Gujral Foundation, she says, What they do is unique and commendable. I do wish more of such places are made. Pushkar Banakar By Six years ago, a teenager sat in his room and downloaded a movie. It changed his life. Like other teens, he did not enjoy the movie as a thought crossed his mind. If I can download this movie at a click of a mouse and there are several others like me, how much loss would the makers of the movie be incurring.This thought stirred the then 19-year-old, Vadodara-based Mannan Shah and he decided to take up anti-piracy as a profession. During my teen years, I spent most of my time with the computer. I tried learning about how a computer and internet works. I was fascinated with the ideology of networking, the 25-year-old school dropout said. Mannan founded Avalache Global Solutions in October 2015 and has provided cyber security to movies like Aiyaary, Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se, Gujjubhai Most Wanted, Namastey England and The Accidental Prime Minister. His company will also take care of the anti-piracy for upcoming movies like Badla, Mere Pyare Prime Minister and Total Dhamaal. Elaborating on how his company provides cyber security, he said that it was possible as they understood the algorithm on which Google works. We have a database that keeps track on the keywords. Once any unauthorized user or website keys in those words, we are alerted. We have a security command centre set up for the purpose. Once it is flagged, the website and the name of the user is sent to the maker of the film. The Department of Telecommunication is also kept in the loop, Mannan said. The Gujarat-based ethical hackers journey has not been a bed of roses. He faced stiff opposition from his family when he decided to take this path. Once I started getting orders for my venture and my family saw that I had the potential, they were proud. Today they are very happy. Avalanche has helped Gujarat Police, CID, CBI, Bank of Baroda, ICICI, ONGC, PepsiCo, Tata, Reliance, the Vadodara and Ahmedabad municipal corporations in cases of fraud, social media issues, digital forensics. Hollywood actor Will Smith, a celebrated rapper himself, has praised Ranveer Singh for shining a light on Indias underground hip-hop scene with his new film, Gully Boy, which released on Thursday. READ HERE | 'Gully Boy' review: An inspired rap musical that's also accessible and fun In a video circulating on social media, a visibly delighted Smith is heard saying, Yo Ranveer congrats man I am loving what youre doing with Gully Boy. For me, old school hip-hop here, seeing hip-hop all over the world like that, I am loving it man. Congrats.Go get em. Directed by Zoya Akhtar, Gully Boy stars Ranveer as Murad, a 22-year-old aspiring rapper who emerges from the slums of Dharavi and succeeds as a successful performer. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Several intellectuals, former bureaucrats and politicians raised their voice against the injustice meted out to Greater Rayalaseema in the separate Andhra Pradesh State. They wrote letters to leaders of all political parties demanding that they should mention in their respective manifestos about how they would address the issues of Greater Rayalaseema. Once, the political parties release their manifestos, then we will chalk out our next course of action, former MP and senior politician from Rayalaseema MV Mysura Reddy has said. Speaking to reporters here on Saturday along with former Chief Secretary of United AP Ajeya Kallam, former judge of AP High Court Justice P Lakshmana Reddy, former DGP Anjaneya Reddy and others, Mysura Reddy alleged that Greater Rayalaseema consisting of Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, Anantapur, Nellore and Prakasam districts was neglected in the last five years in the separate AP State. All the development was concentrated around Amaravati. The Secretariat, Assembly, High Court, AIIMS, Directorates and 65 Central and State institutions are being located around Amaravati, Mysura Reddy said. He said that this concentrated development was in contrast to the assurance given in the Assembly on December 4, 2014 that three megacities, 14 smart cities would be developed in the State and the development would be decentralised. When the Central government expressed its inability to sanction railway zone for Visakhapatnam, the State government could have suggested Guntakal, Mysura Reddy opined. He pointed out that the government diverted Godavari water to Krishna delta and provided irrigation facility to around 20 lakh acres thereby saving around 100 tmc Krishna water. The water saved in Krishna should be diverted to Galeru-Nagari, Handri-Neeva and Velugonda projects. The government should issue a GO providing Krishna water to these three projects in Rayalaseema, Mysura Reddy demanded during the press meet. Declare Amaravati as a free zone Mysura Reddy also demanded that the capital city of Amaravati should be declared as a free zone so that youth from Greater Rayalaseema would get jobs. He also pointed out that the AP government was spending more than Rs 1 lakh crore on infrastructure in the capital city, neglecting Rayalaseema. The government raised loans and Rayalaseema people too will contribute 40 per cent of the revenue to the exchequer. It means that Rayalaseema people have to pay interest on government loans without getting any development, he explained. He further said that they wrote letters to YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy, BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan demanding that their respective manifestos for Assembly elections should speak about the development of Greater Rayalaseema. If the political parties fail to respond, we will plunge into action, he said. Ajay Moses By Express News Service HYDERABAD: As many as 3,013 illegal immigrants from the two Telugu States sought consular help of the UAE government to return to India, in the last year. Nearly 1,949 of them were from Telangana, with a majority hailing from Nizamabad. It was in August last year that UAE gave amnesty for illegal immigrants to either legalise their stay or go back to India. The then NRI Affairs Minister KT Rama Rao had urged the Indians living there to utilise this facility. Following the applications received, the consulate issued 4,034 emergency certificates and 2,802 short validity passports for those who wanted to rectify their status and continue to remain in UAE. The figures were disclosed by Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh, in reply to a question posed by Andhra MP Jayadev Galla. As per the figures tabled in Lok Sabha on February 6, a total of 6,823 have applied for amnesty. While the initiative was a step in the right direction, there still remains a lot to be done. Activists voicing for the rights of Gulf migrants point out that the situation is much worse as there are several thousand who failed to apply for the scheme. Many migrants have their passports confiscated before they are given shelter and food. And when they are set to return, the passports are either expired or used for illegal activities, P Basanth Reddy, president of Gulf Welfare and Cultural Association, told Express. In another data tabled in the Lok Sabha, at least 4,705 Indians were reportedly lodged in prisons across the Gulf, a majority of them in Saudi Arabia (2,224) followed by the UAE (1,606). Some of them include labourers imprisoned due to accidents. While there is no break-up available of these migrants, reportedly most of them are said to be from Telangana. By Express News Service CHENNAI: The fifth consignment of 55,000 tonnes of imported Malaysian sand, carried by MV LMZ Vega, arrived at Adani Kattupalli Port on Friday night. The sand, which is procured at $25 per tonne, will be unloaded at Kattupalli Port from Sunday, a Public Works Department source told Express. This comes as more than 200,000 tonnes of sand have already been imported from Malaysia to Chennai at Kamarajar and Tuticorin ports. To a query whether the government will reduce price of the sand, the official said the sand is priced at `10,013 per unit which is much less than river sand which is sold in Chennai at `14,000 per unit. The price of river sand is `1,033 per unit at the quarry, but due to unavailability it is being sold at `14,000 per unit in Chennai, sources said. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Actor Rajinikanth on Sunday said he is not contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and advised his fans to vote for whichever party they believe would solve the water-related problems of Tamil Nadu. While the statement signed by the actor said that his aim is the assembly elections, there was no comment on whether he would contest if there are bypolls for the 21 vacant seats in the State Assembly along with the Lok Sabha polls. Rajinikanth is yet to launch a political party even over a year has passed since he announced his decision to enter politics. Recently, the state organising Secretary of his fan club Rajini Makkal Mandram has resigned and a few functionaries from the Krishnagiri district unit have joined the DMK party. In this backdrop and with other parties drawing up electoral alliances, Rajinikanth held a discussion on Sunday in his residence with district secretaries of his fan club, which is is planning to covert into a political party. Meanwhile, a statement signed by the actor was released on the decision not to contest the parliament elections. He said he is not extending support to any of the parties or alliances. However, the statement had an advice on whom his fans should vote for. "Water is the major problem in Tamil Nadu. Vote for whoever you believe will form a stable and strong government at Centre and resolve Tamil Nadu's water crisis permanently," said the statement. He further said that no one should use the flag and name of his fan club to support any party. It may be recalled that during the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Rajinikanth had declared that his fans would campaign against PMK, which was then contesting in six seats as part of the DMK-Congress alliance. But PMK won in most of the seats and it was seen as a set back to the popularity of Rajinikanth. Since then, Rajinikanth had not extended support to any of the political parties during elections. By UNI CHENNAI: DMDK Founder and actor-politician Vijayakanth, who was undergoing treatment in US, returned in the early hours on Saturday at International airport here and his party workers were given rousing welcome. According to the party sources, he would announce his party's alliance for the ensuing Lok Sabha poll soon. Mr Vijayakanth left for US for treatment on December 18, 2018. According to a DMDK statement, the party has been holding parleys with the BJP for an alliance for the Lok Sabha election. The DMDK chief would make a final announcement on the alliance by this month end, the sources said. Earlier in 2006, Vijayakanth alone managed to win from Vridhachalam, but in 2011, the DMDK allied with the AIADMK and won 29 seats in the Assembly election and became the Principal Opposition party. But the alliance was shortlived as the ties between the two parties soured after a direct verbal sparring between Mr Vijayakanth and late Ms Jayalalithaa in the State Assembly. It may be recalled that the DMDK was part of the umbrella alliance headed by the BJP and drew a blank in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll and was part of the People's Welfare Front that comprised the MDMK, the PMk, TMC and the Left Parties, the CPI and the CPI(M), during the 2016 Assembly poll and once again faced a drubbing at the hustings. Since then, the DMDK has been keeping a low profile, even after Mr Vijayakanth's wife Ms Premalatha was given a Treasurer post in October last year, after the party founder suffered from health related issues and went to abroad for treatment. By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday enhanced ex gratia for the next of kin of two CRPF jawans from Odisha who attained martyrdom in Pulwama terror attack to Rs 25 lakh from Rs 10 lakh. The State Government will also bear the education cost of the children of the martyrs and their villages will be turned into model panchayats. Schools of the villages will be named after the martyrs, the Chief Ministers office said. Earlier in the day, villagers of Ratanpur under Niali of Cuttack district had expressed discontentment over the announcement of Rs 10 lakh compensation by the State Government to the kin of Odia CRPF jawan Manoj Behera. They alleged that the compensation is low compared to what had been announced by other states. They also demanded a Government job for a member of the martyrs family since he was the sole bread earner. Other states, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have been quite generous with the compensation amount. While Madhya Pradesh Government has announced compensation of Rs 1 crore, a house and Government job for the next of the kin of the deceased, the Maharashtra Government declared ex gratia of Rs 50 lakh each for the family of the martyrs. Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments have announced compensation of Rs 25 lakh each along with Government job while Rajasthan Government declared ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh each, Government job for the next of the kin, 25 bigha land or Rs 1 lakh cash with one MIG house for the deceaseds family. Meanwhile, the IPS Association, Odisha has condemned the terror attack on the CRPF personnel. Expressing anguish over the incident, the Association said, It stands firmly in solidarity with the CRPF and is sure that resolute action will be taken against the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Association secretary S K Priyadarsi said all its members will contribute one days salary to the welfare fund of DG, CRPF for supporting the bereaved families. The Nimapara branch of the LIC settled three death claims on the lives of the bravehearts Prasanna Sahoo and Manoj Behera. Three cheques of Rs 1,52,800, Rs 87,540 and Rs 1,94,662 were issued in favour of the martyrs. Arun Lakshman By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With P J Joseph demanding a second seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the apparent discontent over the tightening hold of Jose K Mani in Kerala Congress has reached higher decibels. The Congress, meanwhile, wary of this hampering UDFs chances is on a fire fighting mode. P J Joseph, an integral part of the Left front for several years but later merged his party with K M Manis Kerala Congress, the possibility of him going back to the fold cannot be completely ruled out. However, it is believed that Joseph, a veteran politician, will be hesitant to jump with the ground support within the powerful Christian community not particularly in favour of the Left. The Congress leadership has already started the fire fighting attempt, and the UDF convenor and one of the major trouble shooters of the Congress party, Benny Behanan has already initiated discussions with the Joseph faction for a truce within the party. According to a highly placed Congress source, Joseph is not exactly for a second Lok Sabha seat or for his son to make his political debut but wants to reduce the clout of K M Mani and his son Jose K Mani. This, according to him, is the main bone of contention. Congress sources told Express, Kerala Congress (Joseph) faction will not venture into any extreme step but we are discussing with both the leadership to iron out their differences and to be a single unit as elections are in the immediate future. By Express News Service KALPETTA: The state, on Saturday, paid a tearful adieu to CRPF jawan V V Vasanth Kumar who was killed in a terrorist attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The last rites were performed with state honours at his family crematorium at Thrikkaippatta. Thereafter, the CRPF and Kerala Police gave gun salute and the mortal remains were buried around 10 pm. The martyrs body arrived at the Calicut International Airport at 2.15 pm. Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam was present, representing the Union Government. Ministers A K Saseendran and K T Jaleel received the body on behalf of the state. The body was kept there for 15 minutes for the public to pay homage. People gathered to pay respect to CRPF jawan V V Vasanth Kumar, who was killed in the terror attack in Pulwama, at Thondayad in Kozhikode. His body was taken to Lakkidi in Wayanad, from Karipur International Airport | Manu R Mavelil (r) The body of the slain jawan being given ceremonial homage at his ancestral home at Thrikkaipatta on Saturday | A Sanesh Minister: State will provide all assistance to martyrs family Kalpetta: Malappuram District Collector Amit Meena and Industries Minister E P Jayarajan laid the wreath on behalf of Governor P Sathasivam and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan respectively. Jayarajan told reporters that the state government would provide all necessary assistance to Vasanth Kumars family. He said the Cabinet would meet on February 19 after the Chief Ministers return and decide on providing solatium to the family. The body was then taken from the airport to Wayanad via road. Hundreds of people thronged either sides of the road in Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts as the convoy made its way to Lakkidi, Vasanth Kumars home town. En route to Wayanad the convoy stopped at Thondayad in Kozhikode and District Collector Sambasiva Rao laid the wreath. Mayor Thottathil Raveendran, MLAs Pradeep Kumar and M K Muneer paid respects to the mortal remains. Thereafter, the body was kept at his home and the Government Upper Primary School, Lakkidi, his alma mater, for the public to pay homage. Hundreds of people from all walks of life thronged the school and family house to pay tributes. The family wanted to complete the burial rites before 9 pm, but the rush of people to pay homage delayed it. By Express News Service ELURU: YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will announce the partys BC Declaration for the development of Backward Classes, who constitute 52 per cent of the States population, at the BC Garjana meeting to be held in Eluru on Sunday. The declaration will be made at a large gathering of BCs, to be mobilised from all the 13 districts of the State. The meeting will be held at Helapuri City, close to CRR Engineering College in Eluru and the arena is named after 18th-century social reformer Mahatma Jyothirao Phule. Last year, Jagan convened a BC study committee to understand the grievances of the members of the community. YSRC BC cell president Janga Krishnamurthy was the chairperson of the study committee. The committee, with the help of 164 BC leaders and organisations, studied the communitys current situation, identified their grievances and submitted a comprehensive report to Jagan. The committee report findings, along with the issues faced by the community as identified by Jagan during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra, were incorporated in the BC Declaration. Along with promises of Navaratnalu, many others such as setting up of corporations for all sub-castes within the BC community, prioritising the representation of BCs in the Assembly, giving financial aid etc would be part of the BC Declaration. T J S George By Prime Minister Modi had and will continue to have, the backing of all of India in his stand against the terrorists who made a big mistake in attacking jawans in Pulwama. The attack must have given the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and its protectors in Pakistan a cheap thrill of achievement as they managed to kill 40 CRPF men in one go. But it was a big mistake because it made India unite against the assassins. Enemies have been shown that they cannot take advantage of Indias noisy democracy and create divisions in the name of religion. Nevertheless, the latest JeM strike is an opportunity for us to examine our record, our resolve and our capabilities more closely than before. The unity of purpose that binds India together in crises is different from the ability to stop terrorists in their track. The record shows that JeMs ability to strike has in no way been curbed over the years. They attacked Indias Parliament in 2001 and the IAF base in Pathankot in early 2016. Later that year, four terrorists near Uri town were able to stage the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir in two decades. In retaliation to the Uri attack, India said it made a surgical strike. The people know precious little about it, except that it has not weakened JeM in any way. Within a year and half, they struck at Pulwama. A reality that has to be faced is that this is a war India has to fight alone because, at the international level, India really has no friends. This isolation is linked to a series of strategic blunders beginning from the time of Independence. When Pakistan rushed tribal fighters from the Northwest Frontier to capture Srinagar in 1947, Sardar Patel was quick to rush troops there and save the situation. If the soldiers were given a few more days they could have thrown the tribals out of Kashmir and brought the whole state under Indian control. But Viceroy Mountbatten played the friendship card with Jawaharlal Nehru and managed to get a ceasefire ordered, permanently dividing the state between India and Pakistan. Nehru went on to make blunders by allowing the UN a role in the dispute and by pledging to hold a plebiscite in the state. Britain, a world power in those days, was unfriendly to India and manipulated the UN in Pakistans favour. Indias next round of blunders occurred under Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. The hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in 1999 was handled with great incompetence. The pilot had cleverly pleaded a fuel crisis and got permission from the hijackers to land in Amritsar. This was an opportunity for India to take control of the situation. But in Amritsar, as a member of Vajpayees staff put it later, airport officials ran around like so many headless chicken, totally clueless about what was to be done. A team of special commandos could not reach the airport because of traffic problems in the city. The flight finally landed in Kandahar in Afghanistan. The government, still clueless, not only agreed to all the demands of the hijackers, but Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh personally went to Kandahar in a special plane along with terrorists released from Indian prisons (and bundles of currency notes, as some reports said).The main terrorist released by India to satisfy the hijackers was Masood Azhar, who had been in Indian prisons for five years. Accorded a heros reception in Pakistan, the man went on to found the JeM and become the worlds most motivated terrorist. What India needs to realise is the futility of depending on others to come to its aid. Pleading for UN intervention is useless because China has veto power there and China is as openly hostile to India as it is friendly to Pakistan. The US will give verbal support to India but nothing more, especially now, when it is planning to withdraw from Afghanistan with Pakistans cooperation. Saudi Arabia under Mohammed bin Salman? Forget it. Look beyond and we see another approach. US special commandos found out a secret hideout in Pakistan, staged a lightning operation there and killed Osama bin Laden before anyone knew what was happening. In 1976, when an Air France flight was hijacked by a Palestinian faction demanding the release of militants imprisoned by Israel, a completely unexpected 90-minute night operation by Israel in Ugandas Entebbe airport rescued 102 of the 106 hostages there. Examples exist. So does expertise. All that is needed is a shared, non-negotiable, politically unpolluted pride in ones nation. Shankkar Aiyar By Every terror attack in the past two decades and more has followed a routinegrief, condemnation and anger. The wave of condemnation which followed the terror attack in Kashmir on Thursdayover 48 countries have expressed condolencesis welcome and strengthens Indias case. The danger lies in interpreting the perfunctory as profound, the superficial as substantial. Yes, the UN Secretary General condemned the attack. But has the UN Security Council delivered on its resolve to counter terrorism? Since 1999, the UN Security Council has passed 27 resolutions against terrorism and the net result is visible across the world. On September 28, 2001, after 9/11, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution No. 1373 to take all necessary steps against terrorists and terrorist organisations. Within 20 days, a committee empowered by the UNSC put terrorists and terrorist organisations on the UNSC sanctions list. Six of them were based in Pakistan. Among them was Jaish-e-Mohammed, designated as QDe.019 on the list. In 2016, the Executive Directorate of the Counterterrorism Committee in the United Nations released theGlobal survey of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) by Member States. There is not a single reference across the 123-page survey to the systematic violation of the sanctions by terror outfits who operate with impunity out of Pakistan, simply stepping in and out of acronyms aided and abetted by the military establishment. On Friday, the US government condemned the heinous terror attack and called on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to terrorist groups operating on its soil. In July 2017, the US government condemned the terror attack on pilgrims on their way to Amarnath. In June 2016, when US President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the US government called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, Pathankot, and other cross-border terrorist attacks perpetrated by Pakistan-based groups. In January 2018, the US government threatened to cut aid and conveyed to Pakistan specific and concrete steps that it should take to eliminate terror networks from its soil without any distinction. The US government has called on Pakistan to do this for nearly two decades. And Pakistan has consistently bypassed itneither geopolitical cajoling nor financial coercion has delivered. There is much anger about Chinas opposition to imposition of UNSC sanctions on Masood Azhar, the head of Bahawalpur-based JeM. There is no disputing China using Pakistan and terror groups as the cats paw to curb Indias rise in the world. Equally, the imposition of sanctions is but a statement of the obvious. The question is whether this will debilitate the activities of Jaish and Azhar. The fact is the funding of terror groups in Pakistan is crowdsourced. Last August it was discovered that terror outfits in Pakistan receive in donation the hides of sacrificed animalsapparently they could fetch as much as Rs 500 crore. And then there is the example of Hafiz Saeed of LeT who, like Azhar, continues to operate without any hurdles, sanctions or no sanctions. It is no secret, and certainly not for the United States, which found Osama bin Laden living a privileged life a few metres from the homes of army brass in Abbottabad, that the military establishment and the intelligence arm ISI in Pakistan run a global back officer for terror across the world. Some of the worlds most wanted terrorists, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Yasser Jazeeri, Abu Faraj Al Libbi, Ramzi bin Al Shibh, and Umar Patek were all captured in Pakistan. The planners and perpetrators of the worst terror attacks, from the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai to the 26/11 attack, are all privileged guests of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment. In February 2019, the UN Security Councils Consolidated List of terror groups reveals the width and depth of Pakistans involvement in fostering and funding terror groups. Pakistan is currently home to terrorists with operations in multiple theatres of war. The last known location of some of the most wanted terrorists in the world as per the UN Security Council is Pakistan. The list includes almost the entire top brass of the Taliban government, including Abdul Ahmad Turk, deputy defence minister of Taliban, Abdul Aziz, and virtually the entire clan of the Haqqani network. Others suspected to be in Pakistan include Egyptians Abd Allah, Zaki Ahmed and Ayman Al Zawahiri, operational leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda member Fazeel-A-Tul, Abd Al Rahman of Mosul in Iraq, known to be involved first with Al Qaeda and later ISIL, Abo Ghaith from Kuwait, Ayub Bashir of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Emrah Erdogan of Turkey, associated with Al Qaeda and Al Shabab in Somalia, and Abdul Haq of Xinjiang, leader of the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement; the list is long. India has witnessed the phenomenon of terrorism of the non-state actor kind since Independence. Indias target should not just be the instruments but the instrumentality of terror as state policy. The durability of Pak perfidy rests on organised global hypocrisy. Indias quest should be to dismantle it for a lasting solution. Shankkar Aiyar Author of Aadhaar: A Biometric History of Indias 12 Digit Revolution, and Accidental India shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com Compound in turmeric may treat colon cancer: study read a headline in a prominent newspaper. This discovery might be great news if you use turmeric in your cooking every day. Indeed, such discoveries may not come as a surprise to those who have relied on these traditional remedies for their survival. Nevertheless, the observation raises some important questions. Why do alternative traditional remedies remain alternative, especially after people gain access to allopathic treatments? Why are traditional remedies not our first choice when faced with life-threatening diseases? Your doctor qualified in Western medicine is unlikely to recommend a turmeric-based treatment for cancer because, for him (or her) any evidence of its effectiveness comes only from established systems; and the efficacy of a turmeric-based treatment for cancer has not been proven in people in clinical trials. Moreover, it is possible that turmeric powder may not be your best option and you might need turmeric tea or turmeric injection. Perhaps, its only turmeric grown in the Himalayas that can keep cancer away? In the lack of such information derived from research and trials lies one problem that keeps alternative medical systems alternative. The traditional remedies are often poorly characterized and lack quantitative data identifying important parameters such as the optimal dose (1 spoon once a day vs 3 spoons three times day) and means of administration (pill vs oil vs injection). A second, more important problem is the fact that traditional remedies are not subjected to blinded clinical trials that prove their efficacy. Holding traditional remedies to a lower standard of quality and requiring a lower burden of proof for their effectiveness poses two drawbacks. Firstly, patients may opt for potentially ineffective treatments and suffer adverse consequences, including premature death. Secondly, the lack of proof allows a sceptic to write off traditional remedies as imaginary remedies. In this context, a reasonable strategy to address the shortcomings associated with the development of traditional remedies would involve subjecting traditional treatments to modern research and development as well as approval processes used for allopathic treatments. A useful example of the scientific development of a traditional remedy is artemisinin, an anti-malarial drug developed in China that has saved millions of lives in the past few decades. Artemisinin started out as Qinghao, one of several thousand traditional Chinese herbal remedies for fever. Even after being identified as an anti-malarial drug, the application of Qinghao was limited by the fact that the ability of traditional recipes to kill the malarial parasite varied from 12 per cent to 40 per cent1. Scientists were left wondering if this variability was due to factors such as the geographic origin of the plant, season of harvest, plant parts used to make the extract and the method of extraction. It is at this juncture that the use of modern science ensured that artemisinin would become a blockbuster drug worthy of a Nobel prize. Modern chemistry was vital in optimizing the chemical extraction of artemisinin from the leaves and this compound showed 100 per cent efficacy as opposed to the 12-40 per cent efficacy of the traditional extract. Beyond helping us identify the active ingredient, developments such as x-ray crystallography helped us determine the chemical structure of the compound. This helped chemists to develop variants of the original artemisinin that were even more effective and easier to administer. Then followed clinical trials that were vital in identifying the correct dosage, frequency and route of administration (pills versus injections) necessary to cure patients effectively. Thus, a herbal remedy that languished in rural China for hundreds of years was transformed into a vital drug that has saved several million lives around the world thanks to the wisdom of leveraging modern science for the advancement of traditional knowledge. The development of artemisinin is a good example to consider in any discussion of the future of traditional remedies in India. The best strategy to maximize the utility of these easily accessible traditional remedies would be to subject them to the modern systems of approval used for allopathic medicines. Such a strategy would serve four purposes. Firstly, it would ensure that proven remedies that improve patients well-being are promoted and sub-optimal remedies are removed from routine use. Secondly, stringent clinical research is likely to improve the potency and efficacy of traditional remedies as it did in the case of artemisinin. Thirdly, the strategy may lead to the discovery of new therapeutic and medical procedures that may otherwise be lost to the world. Lastly, in the process of developing new standards for traditional treatments, we may also advance the effective but still imperfect standards used for regulating modern treatments. It seems unfortunate that many traditional remedies that are thought to be of significant benefit by local communities remain underutilized due to the lack of scientific development of these remedies. Subjecting traditional remedies to the development and approval processes used for allopathic treatments is a good strategy to validate traditional remedies and bring out their full potential. Such a constructive approach will help develop novel therapies, enhance technical expertise in India and help groom a new generation of scientific leaders in the field of medicine. It may seem late, but its never too late! (1) Su, X.-Z.; Miller, L. H. The Discovery of Artemisinin and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Sci. China. Life Sci.2015, 58, 11751179. Sriram Vaidyanathan, Ph. D. Postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University working on gene editing to treat cystic fibrosis Santwana Bhattacharya By All parties on Pulwama The atmosphere at the all-party meeting was somber. The heartwrenching stories from the homes of the martyred jawans, ensured hard questions--on either security or intelligence failure-- were avoided. Only protestations came from NC patron Farooq Abdullah, that too on the withdrawal of security cover of several mainstream politicians in the Valley. As for war talk, it only came from Ramdas Athawale, the junior minister social justice and empowerment. Citing how the world powers have risen in condemnation of the Pulwama terror attack, particularly the US NSA John Boltons remark on Indias right to self-defence, Athawala chipped in: The time was ripe to declare war on Pakistan, we feel. Startled, everyone from the opposition swung towards Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, for confirmation. Whether thats the thinking in government. Its his personal view, Singh quietly responded. A knee-jerk war between two nuclear-armed nations, is not what anyone from the defence or the security establishment is advising, even if the domestic sentiment is for an immediate retaliatory strike. Resolution panned The rather nuanced all-party resolution on Pulwama which spoke about national unity, solidarity with the jawans, fight against scourge of terrorism, was panned in the social media for failing to mention a muh tor javab (befitting reply) to Pakistan. The resolution, it seems, was drafted by the top bureaucrat of the Home Ministry, and circulated at the end of the meeting. All parties agreed to the draft, but TMC members had to dial up Didi Mamata Banerjee. A suggestion from CPIs D Raja to include a line against communal flareup was shot down by Rajnath Singh. However, the Home Minister later got a warning circular issued from his ministry. The situation in Jammu being of some concern. The Mulayam intrigue The day after Mulayam Singh Yadav wished PM Modi a second term, posters appeared Lucknow thanking the Samajwadi patriarch for voicing the sentiments of 125 crore Indians! Never mind, Rabri Devi dig at her Yadav-in-laws fading memory. Lucknow is full of tattle though, about Mulayam being a captive of his younger son Pratik Yadav. The latter wifes Arpita is an unabashed Modi Bakht. She even entertained the idea of joining the BJP. Needless to say, the step familys equation with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is not exactly cosy. In search of seats Just like Sharad Pawar, Deve Gowda too is considering contesting the Lok Sabha. Given his delicate health, Gowda Senior is not willing to step beyond Bangaluru Central. If Amit Shah is keen to field deceased BJP leader Ananth Kumars wife Tejaswini from the same constituency, the Congress wants a trade off. In exchange for the Bangaluru Central, it wants ally JD-S to part with Mandaya. The GOP plans to field Kannada deceased actor-pilitician Ambareeshs widow from Mandaya, to cash in on the superstars fan base. Only problem, Chief Minister HD Kumarswamys son Nikhil has set his eyes on the seat. Cant give up Prashant Kishor obviously cant give up his money churning enterprise of political consultancy for the political role in Nitish Kumars JD-U. Hes not just advising Shiv Sena supremo Udhav Thackeray on how win more seats than BJP in Maharashtra, hes also handling YSRC chief Jagan Mohan Reddys account. Not to mention other sundry BJP MP that his I-PAC will be assisting. Well, if thats not Balle Balle, Kishor is advising Punjab CM Amrinder Singh on policy matters! Santwana Bhattacharya The author is Political Editor, TNIE. Email: santwana@newindianexpress.com Ramananda Sengupta By Express News Service NEW DELHI: US National Security Adviser John Bolton telephoned his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval late Friday to express his outrage over the Pulwama attack, which has been claimed by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). I told Ajit Doval today that we support Indias right to self-defense. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed US condolences over the terrorist attack, PTI quoted him as saying. He offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice, said an MEA readout on the call. NSA Doval appreciated US support. " The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region. They resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designating JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee process, the readout said. Meanwhile, sources said New Delhi will urge the Paris headquartered Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, which monitors terror financing, to put Pakistan on its Black List. A dossier indicating how the Pakistani government funds terrorist outfits like the Jaish-e-Muhammad is being prepared for this. Pakistan, already on the FATF grey list, will face immense difficulties in acquiring international funds if moved to the blacklist. On Friday, India had revoked Pakistans Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status. The suicide attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead drew condemnation not just from the US and Russia, but also from France, Germany and Israel, among others. Anand ST Das By Express News Service PATNA: The nations collective outrage and sadness over the loss of 40 CRPF personnel in the Pulwama terrorist attack found expression in Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech at a government ceremony in Bihar on Sunday. I do feel how much fire there is in your hearts and the hearts of all our fellow countrymen. The fire raging in your hearts is also the same fire that is raging in my heart, said Modi in his address to a massive crowd at a ceremony at Barauni in Begusarai district. The audience, in which many waved tricolours and BJP flags, cheered as the PM said those lines, but he spoke no more on the topic. Modi, who launched and laid foundation stones for infrastructure projects worth Rs 33,000 crore at the programme, paid tributes to the two CRPF personnel from Bihar who were among the 40 men in uniform who sacrificed their lives in Pulwama. The PM started his 25-minute speech by greeting the audience in the north Bihar town in the local Angika dialect, saying Sab log ka pranam karechhia. He then prompted the audience to chant Bharat Mata ki Jai with gusto three times. He also ended his speech by asking the audience to chant that patriotic phrase three more times. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi also expressed their anguish at the violent death of the 40 CRPF personnel. Everyone in the country believes that whoever enacted such a cowardly act of violence would be taught a lesson. I have full faith that the entire country would stand united under the leadership of honourable Narendra Modi and give a befitting reply to those people, said Nitish Kumar in his address. An all-party meeting has been held and the honourable prime minister has said that the perpetrators of the attack would not be forgiven, added Kumar. Notable among others present at the programme included Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon, Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Prasad, Giriraj Singh, Rajkumar Singh, Ram Kripal Yadav and Ashwini Choubey, and Bihar BJP chief Nityanand Rai, apart from several state ministers and MPs Express News Service NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Kashmiri separatist leaders are likely to lose their security cover. The Centre has asked the Jammu & Kashmir government to assess the list of people given security in the state and prune suspects linked to Kashmiri separatists and Pakistans intelligence agency ISI. The decision came at a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh with Union Home Secretary and senior MHA officials on Saturday afternoon. The development comes a day after Singh said in Srinagar that security is given to people receiving funds from Pakistan and its snooping agency ISI, should be reviewed. Some elements in Jammu and Kashmir have links with the ISI and terrorist organizations, he had said. The Home Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir government will carry out the review of the security of separatists and will take a decision on the level of J&K police cover they enjoy heretofore, he said. Governor Satyapal Malik, who received the directive, formed a review committee comprising top security officials including ADGP (CID), ADGP (Security), IGP Kashmir and IGP Jammu, to assess the cases of protected persons in Jammu and Kashmir. The committee is to review the security cover of all protected persons, including mainstream and separatist leaders. The security given them is being revised and cover will be provided to non-suspects as per the threat perception, a top official said. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service PULWAMA/SRINAGAR: Investigators probing the suicide bombing of the CRPF convoy in J& K last Thursday now believe, that the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) selected the exact and most advantageous spot to guarantee maximum destruction. Preliminary information culled by local polices intelligence wing, point to use of meticulous reconnaissance over a long period of time to pinpoint troop movement and identify security protocols followed by convoys in the Valley They said the emphasis of the police probe is now on two aspects-how those involved could manage to plot the hit and remained unnoticed during reconnaissance. Also, how could an SUV slip into the convoy without the Road Opening Party (ROP) challenging the hit during the actual run. Its yet to be ascertained how Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando (his code name)-could get level on the highway, pick his target at the most proximate and vulnerable point where non-reinforced convoy buses were moving, to trigger the blast. A security official said militants zeroed in on their considered point of attack in Lethpora where there is a slope and vehicles perforce have to slow down. As the convoy slowed down at the point, the bomber triggered the explosive-laden SUV alongside the fifth bus in the line. This is the spot, where there was no CCTV installed and hence the actual attack sequence could not be captured, another official, wishing anonymity said. Local police officials say, they are of the firm belief that the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber did not join the convoy over a large distance since the Road Opening Party did not notice anything amiss. Had they noticed, they would not have allowed his vehicle to reach the convoy, he said. Aishik Chanda By Express News Service KOLKATA: Shankari Hembram broke down upon hearing the voice of his husband CRPF jawan Mangal Hembram from the Pulwama blast site on the 'bloody Valentine's Day' on February 14 this month. The 115th battalion jawan and a resident of Chandrakona town in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal was in a vehicle behind the Army bus that blew up after being hit by the car bomb at Lethpora near Awantipora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14. CRPF jawan Mangal Hembram "Everything ended in front of my eyes," the jawan had told his wife. Mangal Hembram was saved by a whisker as his name was not in the list for the ill-fated bus in which several jawans of his battalion were travelling, all of whom were martyred. Hembram sustained minor injuries. He was re-joining duty after a 40-day leave. ALSO READ: Curfew continues, army uses UAVs, helicopters, traders call for bandh "The sky broke over my head on hearing the news. But, soon he called up and said he was fine. He said he saw the entire incident unfold in front of his eyes and that has shaken him. He then spoke with his three daughters and assured them of his well-being. God's grace saved my husband," she said. Meanwhile, the mortal remains of the two martyrs from West Bengal - Sudip Biswas of the 98th battalion and Bablu Santra of the 35th battalion - were flown to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport here on Saturday evening, given gun salute at the airport and driven to their homes in Tehatta in Nadia and Bauria in Howrah respectively. Locals from near and far joined in mourning the arrival of the mortal remains of the martyrs at their residences. Candlelight vigils and marches have been taken out in Kolkata against the terror attack. West Bengal Chief Minister had called up the kin of the martyrs and expressed her condolences. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: The former Director General of J&K Police (DGP) Kuldip Khoda has questioned the logic of allowing a convoy, comprising 78 vehicles and 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway, at one go. Speaking to this correspondent, Khoda said in a conflict zone like Kashmir, a convoy of that size should not have been allowed to ply at one go. 19-year-old Jaish operative Adil Ahmad Dar on Thursday blew up his explosive-laden vehicle near a CRPF bus, killing 40 paramilitary personnel and injuring many more. ALSO READ | Pulwama kind of incident doesnt take place without security lapse somewhere: Former RAW chief Vikram Sood "The authorities should not have allowed a convoy of 78 CRPF vehicles to ply on the highway in a single day. Along with escort vehicles, the total strength of convoy must have been around 85 vehicles. It is difficult to control such a large convoy," Khoda said. The authorities, he said, should have allowed only a convoy of about a dozen vehicles on the highway and secured it from all sides. He said that while escort vehicles were part of the convoy, it would have been difficult for them to secure a convoy of that size, the ex-DGP said. He said had it been a smaller convoy, the escort vehicles would not have allowed the suicide bomber to join the convoy from the left side and overtake it. That way, the attack would have been foiled. The bomber is believed to have joined the convoy on the left side, from a link road, about kilometer away from the spot where the bombing took place. Khoda said during the movement of bigger convoy, people have to face lot inconvenience. "In contrast, smaller convoys cause less inconvenience to the people as well." By Express News Service NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR: Opposition parties appeared to back Prime Minister Narendra Modis resolve to take retaliatory action against terrorists and their supporters when they resolved to back the governments efforts to fight terrorism and defend the unity and integrity of India. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India, the resolution passed at the end of an all-party meeting on Saturday said. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said: We stand with the government for the unity and security of the nation and the security forces... the Congress gives its full support to the government in the fight against terrorism. The meeting called by Home Minister Rajnath Singh was attended by Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandopadhyay and Derek O Brien of the Trinamool Congress, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, D Raja of the Left, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference among others. Intelligence agencies, in the meantime, are learnt to have identified the mastermind of the attack as Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Rasheed Ghazi. Ghazi, said to be in his late twenties, entered Kashmir two months ago through Kupwara. Agencies believe Ghazi, an IED expert, trained Adil Ahmad Dar, the suicide bomber. Meanwhile, Modi reiterated his governments resolve at a rally in Maharashtra. The terrorist groups no matter where they hide, they will be punished. Security forces have been told to decide the fate of terrorists who attacked our jawans in Pulwama, he said. Meanwhile, India got support from the United States when its National Security Adviser John Bolton called Indian counterpart Ajit Doval and recognized Indias right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism. Bolton offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack to justice. India also mounted further pressure on Paksitan when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that following the withdrawal of the most favoured nation status to its neighbour, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect. p9 By Express News Service NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday took a serious note of Kashmiris being targeted in different parts of the country in wake of the Pulwama attack and said all those who try to disrupt communal harmony will be dealt with a strong hand, sources said. They quoted Singh as saying no one, even if they have political affiliations with his own political party, will be spared if they take the law into their hands. The Home Ministry told all the states and Union Territories to ensure the safety of people from J&K after it received reports of harassment and threats against them. READ| Pulwama terror attack: Jawans would decide the punishment for culprits, says PM Modi There have been some reports of students and other residents of Jammu and Kashmir experiencing threats and intimidation in the wake of the terrorist attack in Pulwama. Therefore, the MHA issued an advisory to all states and UTs to take necessary measures to ensure their safety and security, he said. The Mulana panchayat in Ambala district of Haryana asked the villagers to evict Kashmiri students living in rented accommodation in the village. Sources said that around 125 Kashmiri students live in this village and are students of MM University. A second-year civil engineering student, Tasheen Gul, has been arrested in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh after the Dean of the college filed a complaint. The Home Ministry told all the states and Union Territories to ensure the safety of people from J&K after it received reports of harassment and threats against them. By PTI NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir has seen a steady increase in IED blasts and other bombing incidents over the last five years, with 2018 witnessing a 57 per cent jump in such incidents while two other major theatres of violence -- Left Wing Extremism-hit areas and North East - saw the number of such incidents going down, the latest report has found. While the state that shares a border with both Pakistan and China saw a total of 37 incidents of bombing (improvised explosive device and explosive ordnance triggered) in 2014, these incidents grew to 46 in 2015, 69 in 2016, 70 in 2017 and as high as 117 during the last year. A report in this context was presented by the National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) of the NSG during a two-day international conference in Delhi, that concluded recently, on the menace and threats posed by IEDs. ALSO READ | CRPF sub-inspector dies in landmine blast triggered by Maoists in Bihars Gaya The NBDC of the elite 'black cats' commando force is the national repository of all IED and bombing incidents that take place in the country and the unit also conducts a post-blast investigation of all such incidents, including the Pulwama blast case. The report made a special mention of J-K and the growing threat of IED and similar explosives in the state at a time when investigators suspect that the deadly attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama on February 14 was executed by a 'lone wolf' Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist by blowing off a 20-kg strong RDX mix explosive, laden in a car, next to a troop-carrier bus plying as part of a convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway. ALSO READ | Blast at school in Pulwama, at least 12 students injured "There was a considerable decrease in IED blast incidents in all regions of the country except in J-K where terrorists resorted to increased use of IEDs during 2018," the report accessed by PTI said. It added that while IED blast incidents reduced to 77 last year from 98 in 2017 in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) hit areas of the country, such incidents in J-K rose by 57 per cent from 21 in 2017 to 33 during last year. The IED blast incidents in the northeast insurgency theatre reduced to 32 last year as compared to 66 in the year 2017, indicating a decrease of 52 per cent, the report accessed by the news agency said. The report said while there was a "steep decrease" in the number of IED blast incidents in the country as a whole, fatalities due to these explosions increased "considerably" in all the violence theatres of J-K, LWE and North East. ALSO READ | Security men search for body parts of dead CRPF men near bombing site In 2017, while a total of 244 incidents of IED blasts took place in the country leading to 61 deaths, the last year witnessed only 174 such incidents but a higher number of deaths at 108. While one death was recorded due to an IED blast in J-K in 2017, the improvised explosives claimed 13 lives in the state that is reeling under terrorism for the past many decades. "Terrorists in J-K, who were normally relying on explosive ordnance, also resorted to IEDs during 2018 as these devices offered them near-total anonymity," the report said. Explosive ordnance denotes shells and bombs of military grade. The report said fatal casualties in IED blast incidents increased considerably during the last year, as compared to 2017, in the LWE, north and J-K theatres and also the rest of India. "The disgruntled and desperate insurgents, terrorists and CPI (Maoists), who had suffered setbacks in 2018, resorted to renewed IED attacks to avoid direct confrontation with the security forces. "55 people, including civilians were killed in LWE areas alone, which accounted for more than 50 per cent of the total fatalities that took place in the country in IED blast incidents," the report said. Of the 55 killed, fifteen were civilians which accounted for 27 per cent of total casualties which took place due to IED blast incidents in LWE areas, it said. J-K, as per the report, also witnessed a "rise" in non-fatal casualties in IED blast incidents as compared to the other two major combat theatres. Although there was a steep increase in a number of fatalities in IED blast incidents in 2018 as compared to the previous year, the non-fatal casualties saw a reverse trend in the year 2018 recording a considerable decrease in the number of non-fatal casualties in all regions of the country "except" J-K, it stated. The report said that an overall number of non-fatal casualties in 2018 is 33 per cent less than the number of non-fatal casualties recorded in 2017. The report said while in J-K security forces were the "prime target" of terrorists' IEDs, all such devices-- using a mix of metal shrapnel, RDX, TNT and incendiary chemicals-- were largely made of "high grade explosives." By Express News Service RANCHI: Expressing solidarity towards family members of slain CRPF Jawan Vijay Soreng hailing from Jharkhand, Chief Minister Raghubar Das along with other cabinet colleagues will donate one month's salary to the family. Das after paying tribute to the martyr at Birsa Munda Airport said that the sacrifice of the CRPF personnel will not go in vain and befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of this heinous act. ALSO READ | Virender Sehwag offers to take care of education of martyrs' children Das, along with Governor Droupadi Murmu, Union Minister Jayant Sinha and officials of State Police and CRPF paid tribute to the martyr on Saturday before mortal remains were taken to his native village Farsama under Basia Block in Gumla by chopper for burial. "All my cabinet members will donate one month's salary to the martyred family," said the Chief Minister. The country is proud of these brave hearts in armed forces, he added. Earlier on Friday, the Chief Minister had announced ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the martyred family and government job for to his nearest kin. "We have already defeated Pakistan thrice and will crush them once again," said Das. Chief Minister and CRPF IG Anand S Latkar also carried the coffin of the martyr while it was being loaded on the truck for being taken to the chopper. Before that, mortal remains of Vijay Soreng, draped in tricolour, reached Birsa Munda Airport at around 4 pm amid slogans of 'Pakistan Murdabaad' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai.' A huge crowd had gathered at the Airport in Ranchi to pay tributes to the terror attack martyr and shouted slogans in his support. Shillpi A Singh By Fashion and accessory designer Abhishek Pratap Singh has had many firsts since he started working for Sabar tribals in Jharkhand in 2010. After doing fashion designing from Wigan & Leigh College, Delhi, followed by a degree in accessory designing from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi, Singh has been associated with various Central and state agencies and NGOs, buyers and exporters on different kinds of projects in the field of traditional and languishing handicrafts. I have been working in the field of Indian handicrafts for the past 15 years and have been comprehensively working with tribal and rural artisans of India with special focus being the tribals of Jharkhand, he says. At present, he is in initial negotiation with Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) for a project under Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries. He hopes that this will further help the Sabar tribals get a shot at a better life. Singhs exposure to the world of handicrafts happened at NIFT and the practical experience that he gained while working on a project in quake-ravaged Gujarat changed the course of his life. Along with a team of professors from NIFT, I went to Kutch for a rehabilitation project called the Rehabilitation of Local Craft Community. As a part of this, we worked in 16 villages with crafts such as embroidery, pottery, metalwork and leather work. After nine months, I knew that this is what I want to do.In 2012, Singh got a call from the Planning Commission to undertake a project in his home state, Jharkhand. The project started at Raghunathpur in Nimdih Block of Seraikela-Kharsawan district with Sabar tribals. Sabars are one of the nine Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of Jharkhand, and their population growth is in the negative. What started for three months is still going on. In these last six years, the project which started with 50 artisans now boasts 250 of them. And if we get the right support we will turn this area into a craft cluster with close to 1,000 artisans, he says. In 2017, one of his trained artisans, Mangal Mahali, was felicitated by the Kalanidhi Award at Surajkund Fair in Haryana. This award is equivalent to the national award, and he was the first artisan from Jharkhand to get it, he says. We have also been participating in a lot of fairs this year to liquidate the stock we had and this will take us further, he says. Ravi Shankar By The throne of India sits in Delhi, the seat of power created by outsiders such as the Ajmer kings, Muhammad Ghori, the Sultanates, the Mughals and the British before it returned to Indian hands. Since then the gilded pedestal of Indraprastha has been the most coveted prize by leaders from Indias 29 states and seven Union Territories, Narendra Modi being the latest. With the General Elections just a couple of months away, the capital of India has become a battlefield of ambition as regional leaders and parties leverage their clout into a national play to occupy the Prime Ministers residential complex at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. One prominent leader spreading his political footprint among them is N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and the supreme leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Naidu is not an easy reada leader who has been part of many coalition governments at the Centre, a power player who keeps away from the catbird seat, a skilled negotiator who has the savvy to project an unthreatening image to allies and a convincing champion of his state when the occasion arises. Now, the former NDA constituent is leading the Opposition charge from Delhi, deploying his formidable diplomatic skills to bring temperamental egos to the table to take on Modi and the BJP in the coming elections. The struggle is real. In Andhra Pradesh, the stakes are higher. The division of the state has reduced its bargaining power in Delhi: from 42 Lok Sabha seats, it has come down to 25. If he loses the state elections to YSR Congress Partys YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who has the BJPs open support, many of his projects could be jeopardised. It is not smooth-sailing. The canny TDP boss has taken the fight to Delhi while Modi has hit the ground in Andhra Pradesh, spewing invective and inaugurating development projects. READ HERE | Dharma Porata Deeksha: Chandrababu Naidu's fast becomes centre-stage for show of opposition unity Mamata Banerjee, HD Kumaraswamy, N Chandrababu Naidu and Farooq Abdullah at TMC-led 'United India' rally in Kolkata in January The only other Opposition Chief Minister making waves in Delhi is Trinamool Congress (TMC) boss Mamata Banerjee whose enthusiasm for anti-Modi shows like Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals Tanashahi Hatao Desh Bachao campaign is attracting eyeballs. However, no other non-BJP Chief Minister has generated the kind of political energy spanning so many levels like Naidu. The CM has got everyone together, including Shiv Sena, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha on the anti-Modi-Shah platform. He enjoys pan-party confidence, says Ram Mohan, TDP MP. BINDING FACTOR Like all consummate politicians, Naidu knows the power of optics. He has been a frequent flyer to Delhi ever since he broke away from the NDA and the poll cumulus became visible in the sky above South Block. Naidu even knows how to handle roadblocks in Delhi so well that sometimes he even takes the Metro to the airport. In April 2018, he landed in Delhi ahead of a TDP no-confidence motion in July against the Modi government. Accompanied by his troop of MPs, he was seen in Parliament while meeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar. He met other Opposition representatives in Central Hall and dined with Samajwadi Party leaders in Andhra Bhavan. In October, he called on his Delhi counterpart Kejriwal and met BSP chief Mayawati, J&K National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and CPI leaders D Raja and S Sudhakar Reddy. Mayawati and Naidu share an unusual rapport; Behenji refused to meet Naidu bete noire Pawan Kalyan who had sought a tie-up with BSP. But she escorted Naidu after their meeting to his car and even blessed him. This gesture by BSPs irascibly unpredictable Dalit queen showed Naidus skills as a negotiator in the murky backstage of the coalition script. Early this month, he met the Chief Election Commissioner and other members of the panel with other Opposition leaders alleging that the BJP was manipulating electronic voting machines (EVMs). READ | Chandrababu Naidu hikes aid for Andhra farmers to Rs 9,000 from Rs 4,000 MAKING PRIME MINISTERS Naidu is no stranger to Delhis game of thrones. His political skill to negotiate Delhis tenuous bridges was apparent for the first time in 1996, when the BJP formed a minority government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which collapsed after 13 days. Open season was declared for the PMs chair in 1996. VP Singh refused the job, and Jyoti Basu, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav couldnt make the cut for various reasons. Naidu decided to stay out of the fray, only too aware that the tenure would be temporary since any government in Delhi then would have to be formed with Congress support. The Congress has historically been an unreliable supporter as Chaudhary Charan Singh learned in 1980. Instead, Naidu became the kingmaker. He anointed HD Deve Gowda as Prime Minister. Predictably Gowda was toppled by the Congress in 1997 with the excuse that its president Sitaram Kesri was unhappy with him. Naidu once again persuaded the Congress to support his next candidate IK Gujral to replace Gowda. The Congress again withdrew support in November that year. Then it offered to support yet another secular coalition. But Naidu put his foot down firmly and elections were declared. The BJP came to power and Naidu supported the Vajpayee government and got many concessions for Andhra Pradesh. Why did he not try to become the Prime Minister himself? Im creating a place in history for Andhra Pradesh. That is my legacy, said the silver-bearded Naidu. READ | Amit Shah doing 'below the belt' politics: Chandrababu Naidu on BJP chief's open letter Former PM HD Deve Gowda offering N Chandrababu Naidu a glass of juice to break his fast at Andhra Bhavan in Delhi POWER PLAY He is in a black shirta colour incidentally he doesnt likein protest against the Modi governments refusal to grant Andhra Pradesh special status and has spent the day fasting on a podium at Andhra Bhavan. The compound is a sea of yellow, the TDP colour. Special trains from his state, loaded with over 4,000 people, including legislators, had arrived to cheer their leader. The high-powered protest team included 26 ministers, 127 MLAs, 41 MLCs, 15 chairmen, 150 general body members and 2,000 supporters and whips. Politics is resonant with symbolisma widely televised and reported power statement and a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi have more value than a dozen meetings in Visakhapatnam. Naidu faces a stiff fight with Jagan, who depends on the still extant charisma of his father, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy who was Naidus relentless foe. Jagans party has the support of Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The Pawan Kalyan (Jana Sena chief) factor is another source of worry for Naidu. To stem the tide from turning, Naidu announced a last-minute slew of welfare measures such as hiking state pensions from 1,000 to 2,000a tenfold rise since he came to power in 2014. The TDP wasnt sure it would be smooth-sailing. Now, the margin will be comfortable, says a senior bureaucrat in Naidus office. An internal survey bears this out, he adds. READ | Chandrababu Naidu marches to Rashtrapati Bhavan, demands special status for Andhra from President SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT The lopsided weightage in Indian legislature ecosystem has prevented South Indian politicians, even powerful ones, from occupying the Prime Ministers chair since 1947. The only exceptions were Deve Gowda and PV Narasimha Raowhile the former was an incidental PM, the latter was an accidental PM. C Rajagopalachari, R Venkataraman, J Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi, D Devaraj Urs and NT Rama Rao are examples of southern heavyweights denied their place in history. The enigmatic Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has chosen to steadfastly position himself as the champion of his state instead of a PM aspirant. The week began in Delhi with Naidu making the mandatory stop at Raj Ghat after which the stage was set for confrontation with the BJP with a demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh and the fulfilment of assurances given during bifurcation. Manmohan Singh, when he was the Prime Minister, had stated in the Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014, that the Centre would accord Andhra Pradesh Special Category Status, which was reiterated in a subsequent Cabinet decision. Special Category Status has been a contentious deal-breaker in many previous cases: Nitish Kumar had revolted against the UPA government over Special Status for Bihar. The Raghuram Rajan Committee had recommended Special Status to six states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Naidus exit from NDA has put pressure on Nitishcurrently a BJP allywho has become restive after the Rashtriya Janata Dal attacked him for doing a U-turn to stick on in power. Naidu is wielding the Special Status issue as a potent weapon of political, electoral and economic relevance. It would get the state Central funds, excise duty concession and 100 percent income tax exemption for 10 years. Such incentives would make Andhra Pradesh an economic powerhouse, which Naidu had achieved for the undivided state with infrastructure development and mega manufacturing parks. TDP believes that the BJP under Modi would not want a powerful leader in Andhra where it does not have much support. THE TELANGANA FACTOR Though the bifurcation decision cost the Congress party the Telangana election in 2014, Naidu shares a warm relationship with the Grand Old Party, with which he had aligned in the 2018 polls in which Telangana Rashtra Samiti led by K Chandrashekar Rao swept to power with a majority on an unexpected scale. The victory is attributed to Raos emphasis on modern politicians, professionals and youthof the 119 MLAs, 43 are graduates, 26 postgraduates, two hold PhDs, 27 have diplomas and the rest have been educated till Class X. However, bureaucrats in Vijayawada say that KCR has just copied the Naidu model. KCR himself was a Congressman before joining the TDP in 1983. The two are bitter enemies, though both were united in their demand for Telangana. Their relationship has remained acrimoniousNaidu calls KCR a BJP puppet. The day of Naidus fast in Delhi, Rao made an appeal to Andhra Pradesh voters to plump for Jagan in the upcoming state and Lok Sabha elections. This call has given credence to Naidus very public argument that both TRS and Jagan are conspiring with the BJP against Andhra Pradeshs interests. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Andhra Pardesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha Jammu Kashmir National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah Congress leader Anand Sharma DMK MP Kanimozhi and others during a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. (EPS | Parveen Negi) NEW OPPOSITION PIVOT On the other hand, Naidu is now engaged in recreating the past. His Delhi fast became the focus of Opposition unity attended by the shining stars of the anti-BJP galaxy. Rahul Gandhi, Farooq Abdullah, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh and even Manmohan Singh got on stage for some very vocal Modi-bashing. Manmohan, who headed the UPA government at the Centre when Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated, said, This (Special Category Status) demand had support of all parties when it was discussed in Parliament. I stand in solidarity with Naidu. The promise must be implemented without any further delay, he added. The gathering of ideologically disparate leaders gave the signal that Naidu had their full faith. Kamal Nath flew in from Bhopal. Prime Ministerial aspirant Mamata Banerjee sent her MP Derek OBrien as a gesture of support. The surprise participant was Sanjay Raut, an MP belonging to BJP ally Shiv Sena. Though the Senas presence at Naidus fast was meant to shake the tree and get a favourable seat-sharing ratio in the polls, the fact that they chose Naidu to make their point speaks volumes about his rapport across parties. Uddhav Thackeray is the best friend of mine. Even Bal Thackeray was very affectionate towards me. I really appreciate the Shiv Sena chief for extending the cooperation, the Chief Minister told reporters. The political discourse in Andhra Pradesh reflects the overall toxic atmosphere in pre-election days. Venomous public exchanges between former allies Naidu and Modi have become worse. The Prime Minister, who was greeted with black flags in Guntur during his first visit, accused his former colleague of being an untrustworthy ally who has systematically betrayed his benefactors. Naidu responded, I didnt take U-turn, but took the right turn, it is you who took a U-turn (on your promises). Modis barbs at Naidus son Lokesh, IT minister in the Andhra Cabinet, provoked the habitually reserved Chief Minister to launch personal attacks on him, accusing him of neglecting his wife and marginalising LK Advani who had stood up for him against Vajpayee after the Gujarat riots. The CM does me no favours. Im like any other minister, says Lokesh. He even calls his father sir. Congress President Rahul Gandhi National Conference President Farooq Abdullah and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu during 'Dharma Porata Deeksha' a day-long fast to demand special status for the state of Andhra Pradesh in New Delhi Monday Feb. 11 2019. | PTI CAUTIOUS AMBITION The Opposition air is charged with the Prime Ministerial appetites of its leaders. In the forefront are Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati. Mamatas irascible temperament, agitational style and tendency to leave coalition governments in a huff may not get her votes from her peers. Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party would cancel each other out like it happened in 1997. Rahul Gandhi hopes the Priyanka missile will deliver Congress the seats required to form the next government, or at least the most number of Lok Sabha MPs to head a coalition. Chandrababu Naidu alone is keeping his cards close to his chest. Knowing the unreliable chemistry of coalitions, it is unlikely he will drop his hat in the ring considering the prospect of a messy mix of egos and seat arithmetic. He would not like to go down in history as a Deve Gowda or a Gujral. Only a clear victory in the elections for the Lok Sabha and Assembly in Andhra Pradesh will give him the moxie to be kingmaker again. Nothing is what it seems in politics and Naidus priority is to keep BJP out of Andhra. The canny Chief Minister has reached out to Jagan. If at all he (Reddy) wins any seats, let him come and support us, nothing wrong in it, he told a TV channel. Chandrababu Naidu knows too well that in the shifting sands of alliances, it is the kingmaker who is often the king. Rahul Gandhi at N Chandrababu Naidus daylong fast in Delhi. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav/ EPS) Rahul Gandhi Naidu shares a warm relationship with the Congress, with which he had aligned in the 2018 polls. The Congress president used Naidus protest venue in Delhi to launch a fierce attack on PM Modi. He said, The PM doesnt fulfill commitments to the people of Andhra Pradesh. Is Andhra Pradesh not a part of the country? I stand with the people of Andhra. Medha Dutta Yadav By Express News Service On his recent visit to India, author Simon Sebag Montefiore remembers how at 17, he literally talked his way into Downing Street to interview British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for his school magazine. Ask him how his experience was with the Iron Lady, and Sebag only smiles and says, Unforgettable. A lot has happened since then. The USSR broke up, prompting Sebag to visit the fractured country where he encountered revolutions at every corner. It was enough to convince him that journalists were to be found only in Moscow and it was something he had to do. Needless to say, twice he came close to being killed amid the chaos; and once in Tbilisi in the middle of a civil war, he e famously used the only working phone on the presidential desk to ring up his mother and reassure her that he was fine. So, when this man decided to foray into chronicling the great Russian lives, it is natural that the world would sit up and take notice. World leaders from Bill Clinton to Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama claim to read him; and the Prince of Wales is a close friend. He says quietly, It is interesting to talk to world leaders. Sebag confesses to enjoying his trips to India. The history buff is himself taken up with reading Sunil Khilnanis Incarnations. On the fact that a lot of young authors in India today are going back to history, he says, It is a good sign. Indians are also reading a lot of my books and its a pleasure to meet them at literary events. An author of close to 15 books that comprise fiction, non-fiction and surprisingly, childrens genre too, his love for Russia is evident, with most of his non-fiction revolving around the country. He says, Well, it is a mystery to me too. I do write about Jerusalem and the Middle East a lot, but keep going back to Russia. In fact, in his recent book, Written in History, Sebag selects letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotionwhether passion, rage, humourfrom ancient times to the 12th century. Sebag has extensively written about Stalin and his books are being read by Putin. So, how has Russia changed between the two? A lot, he says, adding, In between, there was a kind of thawing, then a re-Stalinisation, followed by a stagnation, then the fall of the Soviet Union and gangster capitalism, after which came liberal democracy and now again its an autocracy. By his own admission, Sebag found writing on Jerusalem a daunting task. In Jerusalem people die for history, says Sebag, who believes that someday there can be peace between Israel and Palestine, but the time is not now. He has often been quoted saying, Jewish people should have their suitcases psychologically packed to escape persecution. The author who boasts a Jewish ancestry gives a sad nod and says, This statement will always be relevant, as much as it is now. God knows whats ahead for the world and for any of us. We live in strange and dangerous times. One of the most read modern-day historians, Sebag steadfastly believes that the true role of a historian is to find the truth, to warn from the past, to inform and entertain the present, and to plan for the future. Surprisingly, this chronicler of the past, who grew up admiring the works of Simon Schama, Antonia Fraser and Robert Conquest, enjoys writing fiction. I prefer writing fiction and I am very proud of my novels. They are love stories and political thrillers. Both love and war are great subjects for a writer, he smiles. So, if he were to name an author that he thinks is under-rated in todays times? Guy de Maupassant, pat comes the reply. After a second thought, Sebag adds, Maybe the French writer is not really under-rated, but rather neglected. And a book that disappointed him? Oh, I could never get through any of Henry James, he rues. By PTI NEW DELHI: Legendary Ameen Sayani started his career as an English broadcaster but when he went for an audition for AIR's Hindi section, he was told after the test that there are hints of English and Gujarati in his accent and he cannot be recruited. But Sayani was not someone to be disheartened and went on to become one of India's most loved radio presenters. Scriptwriter Rakesh Anand Bakshi has come out with a new book "Let's Talk on Air: Conversations with Radio Presenters" in which he chronicles Sayani's journey along with 13 other popular radio jockeys including Yunus Khan, Rohini, Mamta Singh, Sayema, Hrishikay Kannan, Anuraag 'picture' Pandey and Anmol. Sayani was born in Mumbai in a multilingual family on December 21, 1932 and further seeped in a 'Bambai ki khichdi Hindustani bhasha' (Mumbai's porridge of Hindustani language). "My early schooling was at New Era School, which used Gujarati as a medium in the primary standards, with more emphasis on the English language creeping in from fifth grade on," he says in the book, published by Penguin. He also started writing small pieces for his mother's fortnightly journal called "Rehbar" that used three scripts - Devanagari, Gujarati and Urdu. Sayani says by the age of 13, he had already become a fairly proficient broadcaster in English. He started participating in children's programmes on the English service of All India Radio Bombay and then progressed to roles in full-fledged radio plays, discussions and multifaceted narrations. Due to some health issues, Sayani had to be shifted in 1945 from his school in Mumbai to the Scindia School in Gwalior as a boarder to study for the Senior Cambridge examination, the book says. After independence and on his return to Mumbai, he rushed to All India Radio Bombay's Hindi section and announced, "You've known me for many years as an English broadcaster, but now that India is independent, I'd like to switch over to the Hindi section. Give me an audition, please!" They smiled and agreed. "I read my script with great confidence, but their answer was, 'You read well, Ameen, but in your accent there are hints of English and even Gujarati. So we can't accept you. Sorry!' I was heartbroken," recalls Sayani. However, there was hope. "When the British left Ceylon, they had donated powerful short-wave radio transmitters that had belonged to Mountbatten's South-East Asia Command to the people of Colombo. Ceylon took them and created commercial radio services in four languages: Sinhalese, English, Tamil and Hindi. The Hindi programmes proved to be quite popular," he says. "This was propelled to new heights when India's new Minister for Information and Broadcasting, B V Keskar, had for some unknown reason banned all Hindi film songs from AIR. Thousands of great 78-rpm records were disposed of. No announcer was allowed to smile and some of those who had excelled in their sections were transferred to unfamiliar sections about which they were quite ignorant! Within three to four months, AIR's listenership began to dwindle, and Radio Ceylon began to boom," Sayani remembers. It was during this time that Daniel Molina, an American living in Mumbai, saw a great opportunity to create a sole agency in India. He started an ad agency called Radio Advertising Services. To run its production wing, Molina recruited Sayani's brother, Hamid, who was not only a well-known name in Indian broadcasting but had also served as an executive in two of India's leading ad agencies. As soon as that happened, Sayani requested his brother to give him a chance in the Hindi section of Radio Ceylon. But Hamid told him to improve his Hindi accent as he had already been rejected once. Lady luck, however, smiled on Sayani as he got the job of announcer for the Ovaltine Phulwari programme. During this stint, he, one day, heard about the Binaca Geetmala programme which he grabbed with both hands and the rest is history. For Sayani, there is really no ideal way to speak on-air. However, he suggests seven Ss that will really help one become a better radio presenter - 'sahi' (correct), 'satya' (truth), 'saral' (simple), 'spasht' (clear), 'sabhya' (decent), 'sundar' (beautiful) and 'swabhavik' (natural and rational). The presenters Bakshi has written about in the book are those who "put a skip in my step, a smile on my lips and tugged at a string in my heart. Some of them were responsible for my returning to listen to radio regularly after a nearly 20-year vacuum". Sayani's shows began to be hosted on Radio Ceylon (which was broadcast from Colombo) in December 1952. Binaca Geetmala was the first of its kind show in India and was conceived, crafted and hosted by Sayani. It ran from 1952 to 1994, 2000 to 2001 and then 2001 to 2003, with variations in its name. Sayani has been aired on various stations throughout the world, from Vividh Bharati (All India Radio) to Red FM, Radio City, Big FM, Hum FM in the UAE, Spice Radio in the US, and the BBC in the UK. By Express News Service LOS ANGELES: Aday after being subject to racial slurs by a fellow countryman, Roma star Yalitza Aparicio has said that she is proud of her roots. Actor Sergio Goyri, best known for starring in various soap operas in Mexico, had criticised the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for nominating a @#$%^g Indian who says, Yes, maam, no, maam, in an apparent reference to Yalitza. In a brief response to the criticism, Yalitza, 25, released a brief statement, which said, I am proud to be an Oaxacan indigenous woman and it saddens me that there are people who do not know the correct meaning of words. READ HERE | Roma, a beacon of hope Goyri has since apologized for his remarks, saying that it was not his intention to hurt anyone.It was never my intent to offend anyone. I apologize to Yalitza, who deserves (this Oscar nomination) and much more. For me, it is an honour to see a Mexican be nominated for an Oscar, the actor said in a video posted on Instagram. At the upcoming Academy Awards, Aparicio is nominated in the best actress category for her performance in the Alfonso Cuaron-directed Spanish language feature. The film in total has received 10 nominations, including Best Film and Best Director for Cuaron. By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: Continuing to dole out benefits to the farming community, particularly the small and marginal farmers, ahead of polls, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has increased the financial assistance for farmers having less than 5 acres of land under the Annadata Sukhibhava scheme. Instead of earlier announced financial assistance of Rs 4,000 a year to those who own less than 5 acres of land, the government will now extend Rs 9,000 annually. Along with the Rs 6,000 annual assistance announced by the Centre under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme recently, Naidu said small and marginal farmers would get a total of Rs 15,000 a year. Speaking after laying the foundation for Muktyala Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS) via video link from Undavalli on Saturday, Naidu said the government would transfer Rs 4,000 into farmers accounts before the elections and the remaining after the polls. In addition to the assistance announced by the Centre, which is inadequate, we announced Rs 4,000 to those who own less than 5 acres so that they would get a total of Rs 10,000. Similarly, the Centre did not extend any support to farmers who own more than 5 acres of land, but we announced Rs 10,000 for them. We had planned to extend Rs 10,000 uniformly to all farmers, but keeping in mind the problems being faced by small and marginal peasants, we have now decided to hike the earlier announced Rs 4,000 to Rs 9,000, the Chief Minister said while interacting with farmers from Muktyala via video link. Naidu said the TDP government stood by farmers in times of distress. We have procured foodgrains damaged in Phethai cyclone even though the Centre did not come forward, he noted. Besides extending welfare initiatives to ensure better income to farmers, the State government has spent close to Rs 70,000 crore on irrigation projects to provide water to all fields in the State, Naidu explained. As the government had done a lot for the farming community in the last four-and-a-half years, Naidu urged the farmers to support the TDP in the coming elections. Bizmen getting YSRC tickets, says Naidu Vijayawada: Alleging that YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is making money in politics, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that if the former had allotted seats in the last elections to those who went to jail, this time around it is to businessmen. YSRC candidates are one-time players and money is the measure of qualification to get a ticket in YSRC, but not public service. It is hard to find a candidate getting ticket twice in YSRC. Those who contested the last election will not appear this time around. Where is Jagan taking the society? Naidu asked, adding that it is unfortunate to have a leader like him. During a teleconference with TDP leaders on Saturday, Naidu said Jagan does not want to live in AP and that is the reason why he is playing politics sitting in Hyderabad and selecting candidates in consultation with PM Narendra Modi and K Chandrasekhar Rao. Arun M By Express News Service KOCHI: I woke up hearing a smashing sound. A chill ran down my spine as I saw two dark images moving in the room. It was around 2 am. Both were half-naked and had covered their faces with towels. As they saw me scrambling on my feet, one of them moved towards me. I begged them not to harm me. Fear had made me immobile and the miscreant tied me to the cot. They removed my bangles and took away the gold ornaments and cash kept in the almirah, the voice of Grace Mathews shivered as she recollected the harrowing experience she went through the previous night. Two miscreants had barged into the house of Grace, a physician working at Chengamanad PHC, who stays alone at Athani near Aluva. They tied her to the cot, threatened and decamped with 54 sovereigns of gold ornaments, a diamond necklace and cash worth around Rs 16.44 lakh during the early hours of Saturday. They were wielding a glass bottle and would have killed me had I resisted or tried to raise an alarm, she said, her voice breaking. I usually lock the back door and keep the key with me. However, on Friday night I put only the tower bolt and the miscreants entered the house by breaking the lock. The bolt of my bedroom door gave away as they pushed it hard. When the door opened with a bang I was shocked and sprang to my feet. The incident gave me the shock of my life, she said. Dr Grace, a native of Kottayam, who is now settled in Athani, stays alone in her two-storeyed house. Her husband Mathews is an engineer working in the USA and son Ajith Mohan, is a doctor with the Indian Navy in Mumbai. A relative and a servant used to stay in the house at night. However, both of them failed to turn up on Friday night. According to her, the duo talked in the local slang. They told her they will not harm her if she remains silent. They searched the almirah and found the key of the locker where the gold was kept, she said. The miscreants took a sum of Rs 65,000 in cash kept in the almirah. They also searched the bags of the doctor and took away a sum of Rs10,000 besides a sum of Rs1,500 kept in her clinic. I told them they were taking away my hard earned money. You are a doctor and can earn more than this within a short span of time, said one of the miscreants Both of them were aged around 40 years. I think they knew everything about me. They checked all the rooms in the house and knew where the valuables were kept, she recalled. The gold was taken from the bank locker to be worn to a relatives marriage, she said. When the miscreants left the house she rang up the neighbours and they informed the police. The police reached the spot within 15 minutes, however, they could not trace the miscreants. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Now gold in a sweet box! Nearly 585 grams of 24 karat gold worth `19.5 lakh was seized by Air Intelligence Unit officials at RGI Airport in Shamshabad on Saturday. Officials scanned the baggage of a passenger and found gold foils concealed inside cardboard box containing sweets, chocolates and in a photo frame. On further checking of the box and the photo frame thoroughly, officials noticed chocolates, sweets and the photo frame were wrapped in gold foils. The foils weighed 585.364 grams of 24 karat gold and is valued at around `19.50 lakh.Officials said the passenger who carried the baggage fled leaving the baggage. Initial inquiries revealed that the passenger could have landed in a flight from Dubai and fled due to fear of being caught. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: In the wake of alleged harassment against Kashmiris residing in different parts of the country following the terror attack on CRPF personnel at Pulwama, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked all States to ensure the safety of the people native to Jammu and Kashmir. This is of significance to Hyderabad, as the city is home to many students from Jammu & Kashmir studying in various government and private institutions, including central universities like the University of Hyderabad, English and Foreign languages University and Maulana Azad National Urdu University. Kashmiris in Hyderabad, however, are worried about the situation back home more than their own safety. Some of them, who were planning to return home, have landed in a fix now. Hyderabad has been a safe space for us. However, a journey home can be dangerous, rued a Kashmiri student studying in Hyderabad. The J&K police has also started a helpline for Kashmiris - 0194-2451515. On Saturday, AIMIM MLA Kausar Mahiuddin, posted on Twitter, Dear Kashmiris in Hyderabad, Plz feel absolutely safe here and if you need to go out for weekend shopping or to a restaurant and if you feel scared, please let me know. I and many others will walk with you. Warning after fake video of terrorist in city goes viral Social media platforms were thrown out of gear on Saturday morning after a video showing a terrorist being caught at a shopping mall in Attapur. Soon after, the Cyberabad police refuted the authenticity of the video and revealed the video was related to a mock drill conducted by Mumbai police two days ago. The police further warned the public against spreading such rumours. By Express News Service BENGALURU: In the midst of the ongoing disagreement between Indian Railways and the state government for the citys suburban rail project, Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar has asked the South Western Railway (SWR) to provide him with details of the Mumbai model suburban project. According to SWR General Manager Ajay Kumar Singh, the project cost was close to `20,000 crore and if the conditions put by the state government were agreed to, the project cost would shoot up by more than `10,000 crore. The Chief Secretary has sought details on the conditions the Maharashtra government imposed on Mumbai suburban railway project. SWR Division Railway Manager (Bengaluru), R S Saxena said that a suburban railway system is normally between city areas and suburbs - all small stretches. A detailed project report (DPR) was made for these stretches. When the state government put forward those 19 conditions, one of the conditions was extending these stretches further. This can happen anytime later too. Saxena said both Metro and suburban compliment each other. There is no competition with suburban railway. Metro can always capture passengers. The idea of Metro or suburban is to get the passengers from road to the rail system. In Mumbai too, there are multiple modes of transport and they compliment each other. Saxena said they are not dropping the project. When asked about why the SWR was not focusing on satellite towns, he said that town planners who plan water, power, drainage supply to the satellite towns should also focus on transport arrangements. We at SWR are limited when it comes to availability of land. If the state government is ready to provide land, we are ready to take up suburban project to satellite towns, he added. Vijay Bhaskar said that he had sought Mumbai model suburban project details. We will examine and prepare our response to the board, he said. Jonathan Ananda By Express News Service Indias smartphone makers, once dominant players in a nascent segment, have effectively lost the battle for their home market. A perusal of sales and shipment data for the last few quarters from different players shows that Indian firms no longer feature among top five smartphone sellers in the Indian market. Data from IDC for the seven quarters spanning April 2017 to December 2018 shows that only one Indian smartphone maker (Micromax) figured among Indias top five smartphone sellers, and that for a single quarter (July-September 2018). This was an outlier, with analysts pointing out that Micromax made it back to the top five after two years due to an order it bagged from the Chhattisgarh government in partnership with Reliance Jio for supply of 5 million smartphones. However, shipments are likely to decline following completion of the order, Counterpoint Research had noted. Space occupied by local firms have now been firmly taken over by foreign majors, almost all of which are Chinese (barring south Korean powerhouse Samsung). For the entire 2018 calendar year, Indias top five smartphone sellers were Xiaomi with 28.9 per cent of the market, Samsung (22.4%), Vivo (14.2%), Oppo (7.2%) and Transsion (4.5%) according to industry tracker IDC. While Counterpoints data for 2018 shows Micromax coming in at fifth place (at 5 per cent of the market), analysts point out that it had dropped out of the top five for the last quarter of the year pushed out by yet another new Chinese brand: Oppos Realme. Indias manufacturers have been unable to face the onslaught, rivals packing models with features and pricing them at lower prices. With Chinese OEMs Huawei, Oppo, vivo, Xiaomi (HOVX) improving their quality and taking the lead at launching these new features, it has become tough for both global brands and local brands alike to sustain market share, noted Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research in their annual report. In fact, 2018 saw Chinese brands registered their strongest ever annual performance in India capturing a record 60 per cent smartphone market share, up from 54 per cent during 2017. The going is unlikely to get easier for local brands. With the Chinese smartphone market lagging in the midst of an economic slowdown, the countrys mobile powerhouses are set to focus all the more on other markets, especially the worlds second largest: India. Research analyst Shobhit Srivastava notes that with Chinese sales losing momentum, Chinese brands are looking to expand overseas. To increase market share, Chinese brands have been aggressive in both hardware/software design and marketing. They are bringing many firsts into smartphone designs and are taking multiple brand strategies to enter new segments without compromising on their brand image. Gurbir Singh By Express News Service About nine months ago, one day, without warning, this writers Reliance Netconnect dongle stopped working. The Wi-Fi service from Reliance Communications (RCom) going bust was one of the many tell-tale signs of the 15-year-old Anil Ambani telecom company trudging the road to oblivion. Recently, RCom informed the stock exchanges that it will be filing for bankruptcy before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) following its failure to conclude an assets sale agreement with Reliance Jio. RCom had hit a wall after creditors and the Department of Telecom (DoT) had raised objections on the deal. The company was hoping to raise Rs 25,000 crore through monetising of its assets. This will now have to take the transparent route of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC). RComs plight is not an isolated story. The telecom sector is in deep crisis and the disruption has almost entirely to do with the predatory pricing and tactics of Reliance Jio. On Valentines Day, it trolled competitors with the tweet: Roses are red, Violets are blue; Once a neighbour in SIM slot 2, Where are you? Appaling Results Speaking to mediapersons in Davos, Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, described the situation as appalling. He said most of the early players - the Tatas, Telenor, Aircel and RCom - had gone bust and $45-50 billion written off. Survival forced the No 2 and 3 -Vodafone and Idea - to merge and now only three players remained Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea. The future course of the industry would now be shaped on what Jio would do on pricing, he admitted. The news from those who remain in the race is not good. Vodafone Idea has just posted a massive third quarter loss of Rs 5,005 crore, a bigger loss than the Rs 4,974 crore reported in the immediate July-September 2018 preceding quarter. Bharti Airtel for the October-December 2018 quarter reported net profit of a mere Rs 86 crore. The tariff war was obviously taking a toll as it was the 11th consecutive quarter for which Bharti reported declining profits. On the other hand, new entrant Reliance Jio seems unscathed by the mayhem. Soon after it launched, it showed a pre-tax profit of Rs 784 crore for the March 2018 quarter. For the October-December 2018 quarter, Jio reported its fifth straight profitable quarter, with a net profit of Rs 831 crore, compared with Rs 504 crore in the comparable previous quarter a year ago. Market watchers are truly baffled. Jio has sunk in $40 billion (Rs 2.8 lakh crore) so far; it has the cheapest pre and postpaid tariffs; it has huge marketing costs and the highest continuing infrastructure burden. Creative Accounting? This writer pays Rs 232.42 a month for a postpaid Jio package. His comparable Vodafone postpaid connection is three times more expensive at Rs 700. For the high-speed Jio Giga Internet service at home, it is free for now except the Rs 4,500 refundable deposit paid in the beginning. The MTNLs fibre-to-home (FTH), which is inferior, costs Rs 3,200 a month. So, how is Jio making money? It couldnt be just efficiency! Between Vodafone-Idea and Airtel, as many as 8 crore low-paying subscribers who accounted for a recharge of less than Rs 35 a month were dumped and disconnected post December last year. Now, no prizes to guess where these disconnected guys are headed! How do they add anything to Jios bottomline? Some say there has been some creative accounting by Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Jios auditors; like in the beginning, showing six months of revenues in a three-month reporting period. Jio also burnt crores in operating costs including salaries with these heads being shifted to capital costs and not showing on the income statements. This was detected in the FY18 annual report. Even interest costs worth Rs 5,799 crore were capitalised. It doesnt take extraordinary vision to understand where Reliance Jio is headed. The promise of cheap prices and easy access to data and smartphones is designed to finish off competition. Jio has sustaining power, which others dont; but it is also obvious that the current price packages cannot sustain. We are down to three operators in the telecom space. There were too many earlier; and too much competition proved debilitating for the industry. But if there is no competition, consumers will be the losers, when Jio starts jacking up tariffs. It is high time the problems of an uneven playing field raised by the Cellular Operators Association are addressed by the government, and the industry allowed to become sustainable. Post Mortem Sparing a thought for Naga Hoho search team By Nagaland Post | Publish Date: 2/17/2019 12:03:53 PM IST Although one vaguely wonders which Organization took the initiative to mandate the Search Team, it is nevertheless a comforting relief, in a sense, to know that such a forum has been constituted to cobble up a new team for the Naga Hoho. One cares sufficiently to sincerely hope that this is a step in the right direction...an exercise long overdue...provided the wrong can effectively be righted. Having said that...one observes the ambiguity in the communique of the Search Team (as carried by the local dallies on 16-02-2019) with a fundamental question left unanswered: For instance, are they looking at a term of reference to set up the same kind of a Naga Hoho encompassing Nagas from all Naga inhabited territories as before or a new Naga Hoho that would only represent the voice of the Nagas of Nagaland or both? This is a question being asked without a divisive intent on tribal lines or regional bias. It is a pragmatic one based on the following rationality: 1. No matter where one resides, one does require an apex regional identity of its own to resolve its local issues. Our Southern Naga brothers therefore have their UNC and rightly so. The Nagas of Nagaland too had its very own Naga Hoho once upon a time. Over the years however our Naga Hoho gradually evolved into a Pan Naga Federation in its composition without the Nagas of Nagaland fully comprehending this subtle structural change that had taken shape. Let it however be made thoroughly clear that there is no dispute in the relevance of Pan Naga Federation (or Hoho) tackling important common issues such as integration of all the Naga inhabited areas, politically, culturally, emotionally etc...but certainly inappropriate to address regional kitchen issues that specifically pertain to one region or the other. The irrelevance of Pan Naga Hoho masquerading as Naga Hoho was practically proven inconsequential in the local issue like that of the Mukalimi faceoff between the Sumis and the NSCN (IM) where the latter unnecessarily suffered a loss of face in the hands of the Sumi Tribe. Had the original Naga Hoho of Nagaland existed and interceded during this unfortunate fiasco, the Sumis would have probably shown its due curtsy to the Apex Hoho of Nagaland (to which it would have also been an affiliate) by avoiding direct aggressive confrontation with NSCN (IM) for the obvious reason: no single Tribe living within a common State boundary can survive in isolation. This incident brought out a sharp traditional perception that Nagas tend to respect and rely upon ones own immediate family members to deal with ones own kitchen issues...rather than have others beyond the family interfere in ones affairs. To my mind the present confusion is simply a matter of the use of a nomenclature that is a misnomer by this organization which is Pan Naga in nature....and should have accordingly adopted Pan Naga Federation or even Pan Naga Hoho in keeping with the identity of its membership composition rather than usurping or wiping out the original identity of the Naga Hoho that once purely represented the voice of the Nagas of Nagaland. Marginalising the Nagas of Nagaland without its very own regional apex identity was therefore a critical mistake...detrimental not only to the Nagas of Nagaland but all other Nagas living elsewhere. It was akin to uprooting the main pillar of the house. It is therefore absolutely logical and necessary to rewind the hands of time and set right this unfortunate aberration in the use of the Organizations nomenclature...and restore Naga Hoho to the Nagas of Nagaland. 2. While various other reasons may exist, the mushrooming of regional Tribal Hoho groupings within Nagaland can essentially be attributed to the vacuum created by the absence of the original Naga Hoho that was born in Nagaland. Once the present Naga Hoho is rechristened as Pan Naga Federation or Pan Naga Hoho and Naga Hoho is brought home to where it belongs, it would be a natural progression for all Tribal Hohos of Nagaland to reunite once more...inclusive of all the Tribal Hohos under ENPO. This may well be an all encompassing solution that should serve the purpose of all concerned. 3. Serious lessons ought to be learnt from events that have been taking place around us. For instance the BJP ran out of steam and could not muster enough courage to introduce the CAB in the Rajya Sabha because of the sustained aggressive agitation against the Bill by all the North Eastern States barring Nagaland. This is the only kind of language GoI understands. The same principle would be equally applicable even in the case of Indo-Naga negotiation. GoI has taken the Nagas for a ride for the past 73 years and will continue to do so for another eternity unless Nagas learn the finer democratic art of coercion...which is a far cry as of now with all the divisions and fragmentations of the Naga society both in the overground and underground situation. We have never been able to exert a sustained collective pressure on the GoI and the mainland for them to sit up and take notice. Even the Naga Civil Societies have been leaderless and rudderless in the absence of a recognizable Apex forum with a principled backbone that can honourably be relied upon. This is the dire state we have indifferently generated for ourselves over the years...and would serve the Nagas well to find a collective focus through an Apex body like the Naga Hoho. 4. Finally, should the Pan Naga Federation be re-created...it would require serious overhaul in matters of membership in the House unlike the present setup. It should preferably be opened to regional Apex Hohos only...for example: UNC from Manipur, Naga Hoho from Nagaland and similar equivalent Apex Hoho from Arunachal and Assam to ensure equal representation of all the regions. It is definitely a challenging task for the Search Team to really identify the right kind of upright characters to man this awesome responsibility. One would like to wish them all the very best. Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Retd); 3rd Mile Thilixu Village; Dimapur Five Democratic senators vying for their partys nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020 fanned out across the country Saturday to campaign and meet voters. Kamala Harris of California spent her second straight day in the pivotal early-voting state of South Carolina, holding a town hall meeting in Columbia, the capital. Also visiting the state was Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who met with an estimated 800 voters in Greenville before heading to Georgia an unusual early stop for a White House hopeful but one that signals Democratic hopes to make inroads in the South. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York both focused on New Hampshire. Booker made his first visit to there since joining the race earlier this month, holding a question-and-answer session with more than 400 voters in Portsmouth. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, meanwhile, made her own uncommon choice for early campaigning by visiting Wisconsin before heading to Iowa, home to the nations first caucus. And a Democratic heavyweight whos yet to address his 2020 plans, former Vice President Joe Biden, made his own high-profile appearance at the Munich Security Conference. The Democratic senators stepped up their campaigning during the long holiday weekend at the start of Congress first recess this year. Their outreach to voters came in the wake of Trumps controversial decision to declare a national emergency in order to unilaterally redirect federal money for his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Some highlights from the trail: ___ CORY BOOKER The New Jersey senator plans to spend three days in New Hampshire, which casts the first votes in the 2020 primary, and he kicked off the swing with a freewheeling conversation that drew questions on health care, the environment and foreign relations. Booker is one of several Democratic presidential contenders who back legislation that would transition the United States to universal health insurance coverage, but he acknowledged Saturday that compromise may be necessary to get major health care legislation through the Senate. Booker told voters in New Hampshire there are a lot of pathways to achieving universal health coverage, noting that just lowering Medicare eligibility to age 55 would be a step in the right direction. He said supporters of so-called Medicare for All are going to have to find ways to advance the ball given the Congress that we have. Booker brought a personal touch to his first official visit to New Hampshire as a presidential candidate, sharing his African-American familys story of struggling to buy a home in a majority-white neighborhood in the late 1960s as he urged the crowd to put that indivisible back in this one nation under God. The famously social media-savvy senator stayed long after the event concluded to snap selfies and record videos with supporters. ___ KAMALA HARRIS The California senator visited a handful of female-owned businesses in Columbia, South Carolina, on the second day of a swing through the early-voting state. Harris walked along Lady Street and stopped in Styled by Naida, a black-owned business, and made several purchases, including a wide-brimmed teal hat. The candidate also met with a group of women leaders at a restaurant a block away. Her visit was organized by Jennifer Clyburn Reed, whose father is Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the third-ranking Democratic leader in the U.S. House. A prominent Democratic activist in the state, Clyburn Reed hasnt yet backed any of the Democrats running for president, and shes organized similar trips for other candidates. At a town hall in West Columbia, a voter told Harris that most Democrats are looking for someone who will defeat Trump in 2020. The woman became emotional and said she feared the world she was leaving behind for her children and grandchildren, and asked Harris what sets her apart from other Democrats running. Harris said she believes this moment is a time that we need fighters on stage who know how to fight - I do - and who have a proven desire to lead. ___ JOE BIDEN The former vice president isnt officially part of the 2020 presidential race, but he bolstered his case for a potential candidacy by speaking to an international audience about the need to restore Americas ability to claim leadership in the world. Without saying President Donald Trumps name, Biden said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference that current policies do not reflect the country as he perceives it. The America I see values basic human decency, not snatching children from their parents or turning our backs on refugees at our border. Americans know thats not right, Biden said. He said the U.S. doesnt want to turn its back on its closest allies and cherishes democracy, the rule of law and a free press, telling the conference that the America he sees stands up to the aggression of dictators and against strongmen who rule by coercion, corruption and violence. A former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden is likely to lean on his international-relations credentials should he choose to join the increasingly crowded field of Democrats running for their partys presidential nomination. While he has yet to disclose any timetable for deciding whether to enter the race, Biden has two public events slated for later this month, the first at the University of Pennsylvania and the second in Delaware, his home state. And he isnt the only well-known politician on the fence about the Democratic primary. Among the others are Beto ORourke, a former Texas congressman, and Sherrod Brown, an Ohio senator. Lansdale, PA (19446) Today Partly cloudy. High 82F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. TERRORISTIC THREATS Jonathan Setman, 18, of Quakertown, was charged with terroristic threats after officers responded to a disturbance call June 11 in Perkasie, Perkasie Borough Police Department said. Following preliminary arraignment, he was released on $50,000 unsecured bail and told no Major League Baseball has apparently decided that there are 42 too many minor league baseball cities and, according to Commissioner Rob Manfred, after the 2020 season, that will change. There will be a new agreement between the majors and the minors signed and a lot of cities will lose their 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. One percent is a very small number. Even if we do nothing further to limit climate change, our great-grandchildren will hardly be left in misery. Im sure my great-grandchildren will be wonderful people (how could they not with me as an ancestor?), but theyll live in a United States that will be much richer than the one I live in. Theyll have to forgive me for being reluctant to see us spend a trillion or more dollars per year on a Green New Deal. The former leader of the murderous Sinaloa cartel made a killing from the death, addiction and misery he trafficked, to the tune of $14 billion in ill-gotten revenue across the cartel's operations. These criminal assets, which are forfeit to the federal government, should be used to stop future criminals such as El Chapo, and to protect Americans from the suffering that cartels and gangs such as MS-13 continue to export around the world. Just because another state does it doesnt necessarily translate into good policy, said Pennsylvania Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery. But when another state does it and then theres an opportunity to study it and look at data and the impact that that legislation in another state may have had, I think thats when laws in other states can have an impact and influence on public policy here in Pennsylvania. Ricky Vega, who has been a LANTA driver for 25 years and is president of the union representing drivers and maintenance workers, said his father requested in his will that a bus be used instead of a hearse to take him to his final resting place. And he had another request. He wanted me to be his driver for his last ride, the son said. Their project, Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery, has since become a repository for nearly 4,000 ads from hundreds of newspapers, including African-American publications such as the Black Republican in New Orleans, abolitionist papers such as the Liberator, and the Christian Recorder, the official publication of the A.M.E. denomination published at Mother Bethel. The materials include a trove of names of former slaves and long-lost relatives, owners and traders, and plantation locations. I was enthusiastic about the maple pecan salmon entree ($28), which came with an adequately sized filet, cooked perfectly and encrusted in a light shell of nuts and a pinch of microgreens. While the fish was great, I was equally impressed with the salad bedding a mixture of earthy brussels sprouts and red quinoa, with diced Asian pear that lent a distinctly crunchy and pleasing texture. A Dijon apricot sauce deftly applied didnt overwhelm, but complimented an already splendid mixture. Here We Go Get ready for the Stock Market Breakout Pattern Setup We are writing this post today with a few forward-looking expectations while attempting to warn traders that some extended rotation is likely to enter the markets over the next 30+ days. If youve been following our research, youll know that weve been calling these move months in advance of other researchers and analysts. Our September 17, 2018 research post highlighting our Adaptive Dynamic Learning predictive modeling system suggested the US stock markets were poised for a massive price rotation followed by a very unique price setup that we are experiencing now. Currently, the YM (Dow Futures Contracts) are leading the pack on a dramatic upside breakout move. This is likely a result of the US government spending bill that is recently working its way towards approval and the fact that this new spending bill clears the way for at least 8+ months of uninterrupted market optimism (or at least we hope). This 300+ point upside move clearly breaks price highs and puts the US stock market, at least the Dow/Blue-Chips, back into new high trending mode. As many of you are likely aware, our Fibonacci price study teaches us that price must ALWAYS seek to establish new price highs or new price lows AT ALL TIMES. Thus, these new price highs are a very strong indication that the upside trend is dominant and should continue for a while. Additionally, we want to highlight what we believe will be a similar price pattern to 2015/2016 in the US markets a multiple Price Wedge formation that could ultimately set up another price leg (which we believe will be higher, to the upside, at this time). In the next article PART II pay close attention to the charts and images as we are attempting to clearly illustrate how and why price rotation is about to hit the US markets and why you need to be prepared for this move. We continue to read that large amounts of capital are sitting on the sidelines or have been pulled from the markets over the past 12+ months. We understand this as the rotation in early 2018 frightened many investors and the continued sideways price action, global market concerns and geopolitical issues have caused international investors to want to protect their investments from risk thus they move their capital into cash. We get it. But we also believe the next breakout in the US markets will be a great opportunity for skilled traders to identify and prepare for an incredible profit potential no matter which way the market breaks up or down because technical analysis allows us to closely follow the direction of the market. The amount of capital that is sitting on OUTSIDE the markets, currently, represents a massive amount of resources that could re-enter the markets when traders/investors decide the timing is right. Weve termed this a Capital Shift. In simple terms, it reflects capital/cash moving from one market to another or from actively invested to cash, then back to actively invested. Our belief is that capital operates in a manner to always protect itself from risk while attempting to identify suitable returns. The best environment for capital is always a relatively safe investment with protective values and a high probability of decent returns. Therefore, this massive amount of capital not being deployed in the global markets will, at some time, re-enter the markets and will likely increase pricing valuations. How and when will this capital re-enter the markets? What will price activity look like and how will we know when the timing is right for our own strategic deployment of our trading capital? Continue reading to learn why we believe we are only 30~45 days away from an incredible trading setup. You wont want to miss another one of our winners. Recently we close GDXJ for 10.5%, ROKU 8%, and Another ROKU position for 18% profit. Please take a minute to visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn how we can help you find and execute better trade in 2019 and stay ahead of these market moves. We are confident that you will find our Daily Video, Detailed Market Research, Proprietary Research Tools and Detailed Trading Signals will help you make 2019 an incredibly successful year. 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. Mankato, MN (56001) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 86F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 64F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. US President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union address last Tuesday, 5 February, almost a week after it was originally scheduled. The postponement was due to the shutdown of the federal government, unprecedented in its duration. Never before has the federal government remained paralysed for 35 days. What a difference a year makes in American politics. SOTU 2019 was delivered in front of a House of Representatives under a Democratic majority thanks to the results of the midterm elections in November that resulted in a divided government in Washington. Last year, former speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, had presided over SOTU 2018, whereas the one who held the gavel in 2019 was Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California). If political realities have drastically changed in Washington, the fact remains that, as far as the Middle East is concerned, there are no marked differences from the first SOTU for President Trump. For the past two years, and from day one in the Oval Office, the US president has been talking of the ultimate deal that would lead the Palestinians and the Israelis back to the negotiating table in order to reach an agreement that would bring to an end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This time around, President Trump did not refer to the prospects of peace in the Middle East. He once again reaffirmed the strategic priorities of his administration in the region on two fronts. On the one hand, confrontation with Iran. And on the other, the defeat of the Islamic State group. Confronting Iran seems to be the guiding American priority. When Trump delivered his first SOTU, the United States was still a signatory to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, and signed on July 2015 by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. In between January 2018 and February 2019, the American position took a radical turn. Last 8 May, President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from JCPOA, thus rendering great service to the extreme right government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who has made his governments confrontation with Iran central to Israeli foreign policy while continuing his creeping annexation of the West Bank, rendering the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict moot. SOTU 2019 confirmed to the last few doubters that the ultimate deal only pays lip service to the cause of peace in the Middle East. The major drive for American foreign policy for the foreseeable future will centre around containment of Iran and its regional support groups. Nothing proves this better than the remarks that Mike Pompeo delivered at the American University in Cairo in January during his first visit to Egypt since becoming US secretary of state last year, replacing Rex Tillerson. Pompeo made confronting Iran the axis of Americas Middle Eastern policy. In this respect, he talked about a regional alliance, NATO-like, made up of the two Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel, Egypt and Jordan, and the state members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (possibly without Kuwait). In the meantime, the US administration and Poland surprised the Arab world with their joint announcement last month that they would be hosting a ministerial in Warsaw for peace and security in the Middle East. The news came during the tour Pompeo made in the Middle East. To drive the message home, Netanyahu, the hawk of hawks in the Israeli political establishment, commented that the Warsaw meetings main objective is to confront Iran. Two weeks ago, the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi, hosted five Arab foreign ministers in an informal meeting to discuss the prevailing situation in the Middle East. The participants included his counterparts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. There was no official communique as to the results of the talks. However, the remarks of Pompeo that he made a few days later to an American news outlet could help us shed some light on the possible thrust of the talks. The US secretary of state made it clear that the American strategy of forming a regional alliance to deal with Iranian threats and destabilising policies in the wider region (the Middle East and the Gulf) are afoot. SOTU 2019 has sent a clear message to Arab countries. Do not expect the ultimate deal anytime soon, if ever. The United States has already entered the pre-presidential elections cycle; the American withdrawal from Syria, announced by Trump in December, is on track (the last American troops in Syria would go home by the end of April); the defeat of the Islamic State group and its caliphate would be announced sooner rather than later; and forget about an Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the rest of the occupied Arab territories. If there was any doubt following SOTU 2018 about the true intentions of the Trump administration, as far as major Arab and Palestinian questions are concerned, SOTU 2019 definitely laid them to rest. Trumps policy agenda represents a tremendous challenge to Arab countries, particularly those that Washington keeps calling our Arab allies and partners. * The writer is former assistant foreign minister. *A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: SOTU 2019 Short link: Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Todays Imperative From N.C.s Writings The time has come when we can no longer afford to indulge in mutual recrimination. The time has come for us to hang our heads in shame. What has happened at Moradabad is a blot on our patriotism. No amount of quibbling, finding fault with each other, can save us from the ignominy of having to face a situation in which citizens of this country were shot dead by the police for the crime of belonging to a minority community. It is an indication of the magnitude of corrosion of our political life that the guardians of law and order should themselves have turned communal. Many arguments have appeared in the last few weeks to show that the minority community itself has turned recalcitrant. But these provide no justification whatsoever for brazen attempts at scaring it into a sense of insecurity. If any citizen of our Republic has to face the prospect of his or her life and living being in utter jeopardy because of his or her belonging to a particular community, it not only brings disgrace to the nation but destroys the very democratic fabric of the Republic itself. It is not a question of hidden hands not being there. Agents provocateurs galore are active today in many parts of the country, from the Valley of Kashmir to the hills and plains of the North-East. Saudi funds have no doubt poured in, as have resources of different kinds from Pakistani agencies, since they are mere surrogates of the mightier power or powers whose rulers have long been engaged in creating destabilisation in our country because this nation, its government and its people have remained unbending before the frowning of those mighty powers. But all this can hardly provide an alibi for our own negligence at home. What has been attempted recently in Kashmir brings out clearly the sinister designs of far-flung transnational agencies not only to unleash anarchy but a state of virtual civil war. Sheikh Abdullahs prompt action in snuffing it out has not only saved Kashmir but has shown how swift and firm handling of even the most difficult situation can defuse it. In this background, the rather intemperate attacks on Sheikh Abdullah by some of the local leaders claiming to be secular only a few weeks before, bring out their infantile short-sightedness in gauging the explosive situation in the Valley. It is matter of gravest concern for our demo-cracy that the police in UP, particularly in Moradabad, should have misbehaved as they did. For quite some time past, the blatant irregularities in the conduct of the UP Policeat Baghpat, for instancehave been shielded by politicians beholden to the very same police for petty partisan gains. No doubt this has embol-dened the police to the point of forgetting their primary role as the protector of the public. Added to this is the undeniable reality that in some of the States in the Hindi belt, the police force itself has been subjected to the infection of communal malignancy. The Prime Minister is right in warning against maligning different arms of the administration, and yet it will be playing into the hands of the communalist forces themselves, Hindu and Muslim, if the grave misconduct of the police in Moradabad and such other places does not attract swift and exemplary punishment. Indira Gandhi carried conviction with a vast section of her countrymen when she rebuked the Janata Government for its failure to protect different communities. But if the police under the Janata Raj were party to a pogrom against Mulsims in Aligarh, the police under her government have shown no better record at Moradabad. It would be a betrayal of the electoral mandate she has won twice over this year if she cannot put down with a heavy hand any manifestation of communalism in any section of the administration. The media too have a responsibility which they have yet to fulfil. It is not a mere question of asserting the right to publish how many are hit from which community or even unearthing the hidden hands behind communal tensions, however important that may be. Overriding everything else, there must be constant reiteration of the citizens right to be protected and respected. It is ignoble on the part of the Fourth Estate to be patronising to the minority community, or to harp on the separate identity of any community. No self-respecting Muslim would like to be patted, or treated as somebody apart. It was shocking to learn that over the government-owned radio, a distinguished journalist talked about the separate identity of the Muslimsthat they are different in the way they look, dress, eat, worship and believe. Let it not be forgotten in the heat and dust of the tension-charged atmosphere of today how much India with her rich culture owes to Islam, to those who are its votaries. The magnificent river of Indias great civilisation is fed by many a stream of which Islam has been one of the mainsprings. It is precisely for this reason that our national leaders refused to accept the proposition that the partition of the country effected in 1947 was along communal principles, and rejected the notorious two-nation theory. In fact, what we have been witnessing today, this alienation of the Muslim communityacquiesced in, if not connived at, by many of the leaders of public opinion in this countryis the pernicious legacy of the partition of India. Thirty-three years after that black spot in Indias history, even today many look upon a Muslim as a stranger in this, his own land, while many a Muslim is forced to look upon Pakistan as his or her haven. There could be no worse commentary on Indian democracy. It is not a question of offering protection to a minority community, it is a question of recognising it as an integral part of the nation, its members as patriots in their own right, and whose fore-fathers had joined hands in building the rich civilisation of which every Indian is proud. Let us not dissect a Muslim as an alien, because that would amount to dispossessing the Indian nation of one of its vital components. There can be no India without the Muslim being a part of it. We look down upon the rulers of Pakistan not because they are Muslims, but because they have trampled upon democracy in their own country and permitted their country to be subservient to foreign-power overlordship. A Badshah Khan or a Sheikh Mujib could never be an alien in this land. Moradabad should shake up every patriotic Indian. No party, no individual worker claiming to be Indian can escape responsibility for what has happened there and what a still happening at many of the tension-spots in northern India. No doubt it is part of the parliamentary game that the Opposition parties should try to exploit every shortcoming of the government, and hold up before the public all its sins of omission and commission. At the same time, every party has a responsibility to the people of India, a sacred national trust. It would be betraying that trust if it did not fight with its own resources, however limited these may be, any danger to the common national well-being. The menace of communalism today is creeping into even educated circles. Many of these are not stirred by the enormity of communal hatred destroying our national fabric. Administrative measures, however well-meant and effective, cannot cope with this menacing phenomenon. The frightening problem of Muslim alienation can be solved only by a sustained mass campaign. It is a measure of the bankruptcy of our political life today that the national leaders of no political party have cared to go and camp in Moradabad in the way Gandhiji used to do in much more difficult circumstances. Noakhali, Bihar and Calcutta were no stunts on his part, they were part of a crusade for nation-building, staking his own life for the protection of his fellow-citizens. The brassworker at Moradabad or the teacher at Aligarh cannot function only under police protection even if the police force is purged of the virus of communalism. With all the tall talk about defending national integration, where are the leaders to undertake the crusade? Much is heard nowadays about youth power and scores of seminars and symposia have been called to discuss the urgency of consolidating national integration. But here is a live case where the dynamics of the urge for national integration can be tested out on the spot. Is it not a shame that no national level youth organisation has so far deemed it necessary, its sacred task, to go to the areas of communal pogroms in large groups to undertake relief work, to help the fear-stricken by living with them, restore normalcy and in the process educate themselves about the urgency of national integration? Our value-system has been shattered, and it is time we thought of a genuine cultural revolution to lift this nation of six hundred million out of the morass of demoralisation to a realisation of its own greatness. As the first step towards such a cultural revolution, the fight against communalism in all its ugly manifestations, overt and covert, needs to be taken up. Towards that objective of nation-building, Mainstream once again dedicates itself as it completes eighteen years of its modest but purposeful existence, and steps into the nineteenth. (Editors Notebook, Mainstream, Eighteenth Annual Number, September 7, 1980) Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Do Not Undermine Parliament, Please by D.K. Giri To read in the papers that the two days (February 5 and 6) in the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha were wholly washed out by disruptions is quite sad and painful for those watching the democratic institutions, mainly Parliament. It goes without saying that Parliament is the supreme law-making body, the temple of our democracy as the PM-to-be Narendra Modi hailed it before being sworn is as the head of government. Remember, he head-saluted the stairs in 2014 while entering the portals of Parliament to be sworn in as the Prime Minister. Honourable Members of Parliament from across parties are known to be undermining Parliament. One remembers the Speakers of the Lok Sabha and Chairmen in the Rajya Sabha appealing in utter exasperation to the MPs not to disrupt, but discuss and debate in Houses. Alas, the unseemly ruckus and rupture continue unabated. In entire Asia, India has enjoyed the unrivalled credit of maintaining its democracy since independence in 1947. The whole world looks favourably at the uniqueness of Indian democracy that is multi-cultural, multi-party and inclusive. Yet, we are increasingly becoming a paradox. While the Indian political consciousness has been steadily growing, the democratic institutions are not; on the contrary, they are in decline. This is seriously worrying. Continuous disruption of parliamentary proceedings is a case in point. India is a parliamentary democracy, it is the supreme law-making as well as monitoring body. Looking at the consequences of disruptions and pandemonium in Parliament, according to some estimates, each minute of Parliaments function costs Rs 26,035. On an average, Rs 20 crore has been lost from the 14th to 16th Lok Sabha. In the 15th Lok Sabha, an entire winter session was wiped out over the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the infamous 2G scam. In the 14th Lok Sabha, 41 per cent of Parliaments time was spent on law-making, which came down to 13 per cent in the 15th Lok Sabha. According to the Lok Sabha Secretariats calculations, 634 working hours were lost due to interruptions and adjournments; the 15th Lok Sabha was the least productive in Indian parliamentary history. Although we do not have the latest figures on loss of time and money, the disruptive acts continue till date. This is really sad and deeply worrying. While many countries in the world clamour for democracy, we do not seem to treasure our own. It is true that one of the roles of Parliament is to monitor and control the government, by holding it to account on its policies and actions. But how does Parliament, or to be accurate, the Opposition, perform this role? It has to do so by using the parliamentary procedures, not by boycotting or disrupting them. This is not advisable. No party has the right to disrupt or paralyse the functioning of Parliament, the supreme and sovereign body of our democracy. Without going into depth, if MPs do not believe in debates and dialogues which are the core principles of democracy, how can we ask the Naxalites to embrace democracy? The only difference is Naxalites and other anarchists believe in violence, the MPs do not; but, their actions negate democracy. The leadership of all parties must rethink their parliamentary practices. Does any party think that, with lesser number of MPs, they cannot have their way, but they can make greater impact by disruptionsrunning into the well of the House, shouting slogans in Parliament and boycotting the proceedings? This is unbecoming of the biggest democracy and an aspiring power! Political parties seem to play double standards. They react to situations opportunis-tically. Remember, in the winter session of 2012, BJP MPs demanded a JPC on 2G, the Congress Government initially said no, leading to disruptions by the Opposition and then finally gave in. Although the JPC did nothing greater than the CBI did under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court, the entire winter session was wiped out by BJPs MPs stalling the proceedings. Then the BJP came to be at the receiving end in the 16th Lok Sabha. The Congress did no better in the Opposition. Its supreme leader, Sonia Gandhi, apparently asked her MPs to be aggressive. One must remember, one wrong does not justify another. It is like saying: I will steal because you have stolen. The leadership of parties must issue whips to their respective MPs not to disrupt the proceedings. Let us take the case of handling of the CBI by the Central Government which is now rocking Parliament. During the Congress regime, the Law Minister and PMO Secretariat did the incredible act by summoning the report of the CBI, the apex independent, investigative body. The report was to be submitted to the Supreme Court. The Law Ministers explanation of proof-reading the report was ridiculous. The autonomy of the CBI was compromised. The Opposition then was right in demanding action on this serious lapse. It demanded the resignation of the PM and Law Minister; neither of them did. What did the Narendra Modi Government do? They allowed the Director and his Deputy in the CBI to fight in public. They could have resolved it amicably or with systemic correction. Courts had to intervene to sort things out. As we know, the activism of the judiciary on governance issues is commensurate with the inefficacy of the executive. But that is another debate. Even in the Supreme Court, the tussle on procedures etc. between the Chief Justice of India and judges played out in the open. Four honourable judges had to go to the media to air their grievances, which was the first such unfortunate incident in independent India. Whatever the merits of the arguments on the CBI or Rafael or for that matter any other issue of concern, MPs have to go back to Parliament and use the democratic method; there is no other legitimate way. Disruption of the functions of Parliament is betrayal of the confidence of the people, denial of democracy. It is another matter again that the quality of the debates and effectiveness of Parliament are going down. But that is a concern which needs to be addressed through electoral reforms etc. to ensure that good quality candidates enter Parliament. We cannot throw the baby with the bathwater, we cannot dilute the role of Parliament and allow the Executive to govern by ordinances etc. In our political structure Parliament is supreme. As concerned citizens and voters we sincerely appeal to you, honourable MPs, please do not undermine it. Prof Dr D.K. Giri belongs to the Schumacher Centre, New Delhi. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Russia-Ukraine: Brotherly Ties Turning into Hostilities. How and (...) by R.G. Gidadhubli Russia and Ukraine were brotherly Slavic states with close, cordial and consistent social, economic and political relations for centuries. They were also major economically and strategically powerful Republics of the former Soviet Union. Hence questions arise as to how and why the brotherly relations have turned into hostilities that aggravated in November-December 2018. An effort has been made to examine the major issues in this contribution. On November 25, 2018 ships of Russia and Ukraine collided in the coastal region of Crimea. There was accusation by the Ukrainian and Western media that a Russian Coast Guard cutter rammed into a Ukrainian Navy tugboat near the Kerch Strait, which is a crucial location, being the bottleneck between Russia and Crimea. But Russia made a counter-allegation accusing Ukraine of orchestrating the clash at sea asserting that the Ukrainian boats had entered Russian waters. The Kerch Strait assumes great geos-trategic and geopolitical significance since it is the only route for ships travelling to the Sea of Azov that separates the Crimean Peninsula from the mainland of Ukraine and Russia. Moreover, Ukraine has several ports, and the Black Sea is the arena usually patrolled by the NATO. Moreover, what added to the bilateral conflict was that Russia also seized 24 sailors in the Black Sea off the coast of the Russia-controlled Crimean Peninsula. As per Russian reports, the captured sailors were transferred to a detention centre in Moscow. Looking back, since 2014 there have been on-going conflicts between Ukraine and Russia over the allegation against Russias illegal annexation of Crimea. This accusation has been denied by Russia justifying that a referendum held on the issue found the people of Crimea overwhelmingly supporting Russias action. Having taken control over Crimea, Russia built a bridge over the Kerch Strait connecting Crimea with Russia in May 2018 and has asserted control over the Strait. Realising that Ukraine has been losing the battle, the Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, has spared no effort to make this incident not only a bilateral conflict but also an international issue to gain support from the West. The frustration of Poroshenko seems to be evident from his sarcastic remarks on the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, charging him with behaving like a Russian emperor and treating Ukraine as a Russian colony. He even added: We cant accept Russias aggressive policies. First it was the Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, now he wants the Sea of Azov. To safeguard national interest Poroshenko has taken several crucial policy measures. This is evident from the immediate response since Ukraine instituted martial law for 30 days in parts of Ukraine which are mainly inhabited by Russians. Secondly, on December 6, 2018 in the Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada, 277 lawmakers approved a move by President Poroshenko to terminate the countrys Treaty of Friendship with Russia. Moreover, the legislation also allowed Ukrainian border guards to open fire without warning on potential attackers. This is most unfortunate since in the eastern borders of Ukraine there is free movement of Russians and Ukrainians and there are allegations that Russians have been protesting against the interests of Ukraine during the last few years. Thirdly, in the eastern regions of Ukraine bordering Russia, a substantial ethnic population is Russian as also in Crimea as they are living there for the last few hundreds of years. It is unfortunate that they are now called separatists by Ukraine, since they may have pro-Russian sentiments. Since 2014 alleging the annexation of Crimea by Russia, Ukraine is blaming Russia for providing support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine who have been blamed for fighting the government in the war that has killed more than 10,300 people. But Moscow denies interfering in Ukraines domestic affairs and efforts made to bring about peace through the Minsk Deal have not succeeded so far. Fourthly, a highly unpleasant development is that Poroshenko has called on the NATO forces to send ships to the Sea of Azov to help protect his country. The NATO, which includes several Black Sea member-states, and the United States have routinely sent warships patrolling the Black Sea, despite Russian concerns. As of now Ukraine is a partner of the NATO but not a member of the military alliance. However, Ukraine has every reason to be content that the NATO has already assured that it stands with Ukraine and has even called on Russia to release the captured ships and their crew. As per reports, Russia has released the ships. Fifth, Ukraine intends to involve another Western organisation. At the December 6 meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held in Milan, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin, urged for a sturdy response against Russia calling for increased sanctions against Russia, accusing Moscow of stepping up aggression against Kiev and sowing instability and insecurity in the OSCE region. Western Response There are mixed responses from the West on the latest conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has opined that the issue can be resolved through talks and there is no military solution to all these conflicts. Similarly, the European Union has failed to muster support for any immediate new steps to either impose new sanctions on Russia over the naval incident or increase enforcement of existing sanctions on Moscow. The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has stated that the bloc will act appropriately while continuing to monitor the situation. As compared to Europe, the USA has been very critical of the incidents. The US President, Donald Trump, cancelled his scheduled meeting with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at the G-20 industrialised nations gathering in Argentina in the first week of December. Moreover, the USA has carried out an extraordinary flight over Ukraine under an international military surveillance treaty, amid what it called a pattern of increasingly provocative and threatening activity by Russia. Mr Mitchell, who headed the US delegation at the OSCE meeting, was frank in stating that the member-states cannot turn a blind eye when Russia attacks the national sovereignty and borders of its neighbours, undermines basic human freedoms, and weakens our common security. What might aggravate the crisis is that on this issue the CNN has reported that the United States was also making plans to sail a warship into the Black Sea, but that has not been confirmed. Pentagon has alleged that Russias unprovoked attack on Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea is a dangerous escalation in a pattern of increasingly provocative and threatening activity. While this statement is very aggressive and that might worsen relations with Russia, at the same time it added that the USA seeks a better relationship with Russia, but this cannot happen while its unlawful and destabilising actions continue in Ukraine and elsewhere. It is important to note that Steven Pifer, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former US ambassador to Ukraine, has been candid in his article Round 1 goes to Russia urging that the West should make clear that Russia will face concrete consequences if it does not release the Ukrainian naval vessels and crews and allow Ukraine free passage through the Kerch Strait, Russias Reaction As expected, the Russian response has been highly critical of Ukraine and the West. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pinned the blame for years of tensions on Ukraines outrageous actions and its Western sponsors. Hence addressing the OSCE gathering, Lavrov in December 2018 asserted that Kiev is free from any punishment, shielded by its Western supporters, who justify all its wrong actions. It is important to note that Ukraine and Russia are both member-states of the 57-nation OSCE, a security and human rights watchdog. Secondly, Konstantin Kosachev, who heads the International Affairs Committee in Russias upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, said the US military presence in the Black Sea will only increase tension in the region, as the Russian news agency TASS reported. Thirdly, Kremlin spokesman Peskov criticised Poroshenkos request to the NATO to deploy naval ships to the Sea of Azov, alleging that it is aimed at provoking further tensions. Fourthly, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, was frank in stating that the naval confrontation was a ploy to boost his Ukrainian counterparts popularity ahead of an election in March 2019 and thus was driven by Poroshenkos electoral and domestic policy motives. Fifth, as per Russian reports in the second week of December, a Russian court has ordered 12 of the 24 Ukrainian sailors who were captured by Russian Coast-Guard forces be held in custody for two months. On this issue the UN chief called for restraint by both Moscow and Kiev. Conflict over Religion The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has not spared even religion although both belong to Orthodox Christianity, an Istanbul-based organi-sation. Christianity was introduced into Kievan Rus by Greek missionaries from Byzantium in the 9th century spreading across the territories of Ukraine, Russia and Belorussia. The Metropolitans residence of Christian Bishop was originally located in Kiev and later shifted to Russia when Ukraine was under the threat of Mongol invasion in the 11th century. During the last several centuries the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church has been managing churches in both Russia and Ukraine and there was no conflict. But in the last few years there are differences emerging among the religious heads of Moscow and Kiev possibly influenced by local political powers. It is unfortunate that tensions have been building up amid questions over the ownership of churches, monasteries, and historic properties. On December 4, 2018 the Ukrainian Police searched several Russian Orthodox Churches and the homes of Russian Orthodox priests in several cities in Ukraine, amid growing tensions over the fate of Ukraines competing Orthodox faiths. A police spokeswoman told the AFP that security services were searching homes of priests who are loyal to the Russian branch of the Orthodox Church. Possibly due to the unending conflicts and differences, the Istanbul-based organisation that serves as the spiritual headquarters for Orthodox Christianity has moved to grant the Ukrainian Orthodox Church independence from oversight by the Russian Church in Moscow. But the Russian Church has vehemently opposed this move and announced it would break ties in protest. Moreover, on December 14, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has appealed to the UN and has sent letters to world leaders asking them to protect and assist followers of Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine as they face what he called official pressure on Moscow-appointed clerics. In the prevailing scenario, there is no likelihood of an end to hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. Dr R.G. Gidadhubli is a Professor and former Director, Centre for Eurasian Studies, University of Mumbai. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Triple Talaaq Bill: Limits, Ambiguities and Politics by Ananya Pathak The Opposition stood in stark condemnation, as the Triple Talaaq Bill came to be passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, January 3, 2019. The Bill seeks to criminalise the practice of instant triple talaaq among Muslims. Under the law, the act of giving instant talaaq will attract a jail term of upto three years for a husband. The Opposition was demanding that the Bill be referred to a Joint Committee but walked out when its demand could not be met. The ruling party asserted that the Bill was not a political statement but a gesture towards restoring the dignity of Muslim women and that the Opposition had been opposing it for the sake of its vote-bank. As news channels bombard us with fiery speeches and a set of allegations and counter-allegations by the ruling and the Opposition parties, perhaps there are some far deeper concerns that we are missing amidst the rhetoric. Womens Agony: Seeing Beyond Islam One of the most important concerns that must urgently be addressed is the fact that while in India, family laws allow a couple to opt for a divorce through legal procedures, it is not uncommon to find husbands walk out of marriages or abandon their wives without even offering an explanation. It must also be asserted that this marital unaccountability is found across religious communities and has nothing to do with Islam in particular. The statistics on women abandoned in marriages that were not termed as legal procedures of divorce was 2.37 million as pointed out by the Census of 2011. (http://censusindia.gov.in/) It is difficult and an extremely significant task to find out what happened to the lives of these women after they were illegally abandoned/ separated from their husbands and often without having any alternative source of livelihood. As many as 1.9 million out of these separated women are Hindus while Muslim women consist of 0.28 million. This goes on to imply then that abandonment of wives is not a religious but a societal/cultural problem that must be addressed as much through legal mechanisms as through societal awareness and community vigilantism. The allegation made by the Opposition that the Centre was merely trying to play on communal sentiments through the passing of the Triple Talaaq Bill and interfering with the Muslim Personal Law may be an exaggerated condemnation because it will drastically empower a lot of Islamic women who were divorced by a sudden utterance of the word talaaq by their husbands without any solid grounds by now making it illegal and void and sanctioning imprisonment for up to three years for the husband. The Bill is empowering for women to the extent that it will no longer let a husband have an easy way of abandoning his spouse and continue living unencumbered. It is indeed a moment of collective victory for Muslim women that after decades of suppression, this cruel and unjust practice will now be finished. Flawed Law But amidst the celebration and victory of what apparently seems like the end of an odious provision, what cannot be negated is the fact that there is a loophole which confirms that it has not much to do with gender justice. The draft Bill does not take into consideration that there can be a Muslim husband who may treat his wife brutally and decide to throw her out of the house without saying talaaq, talaaq, talaaq and he will happily escape without getting any punishment and will have to face no criminal sanction! A woman abandoned like this will neither see her husband getting imprisoned nor will she be entitled to maintenance. What this implies then is the fact that once the law is passed, an averagely aware, irresponsible Muslim husband will conveniently abandon his wife without uttering the Urdu words talaaq, talaaq, talaaq. He will kick her out, destroy her life and not be entitled to imprisonment or to giving her maintenance under the law just because he was cautious enough to not utter the three words. In other words, a Muslim husband will now be sanctioned to take the same path his Hindu, Sikh, Christian or Buddhist counterparts took in many parts of the nation to illegally throw out their wives without offering an explanation, without ensuring her dignity. It certainly is paradoxical that this law is inconsistent, absurd and intrinsically flawed. Surely, had the concern been womens equality, the government could have done a far more nuanced drafting of the Bill. No matter how desperate the government is about passing the Bill in the Rajya Sabha in its present form, what must not be overlooked is the fact that the need of the hour is a Bill targeted at protecting the rights of all Indian married women irrespective of their religion that protects them from being illegally divorced. It is time for the government to be reminded once more that in India, wives are abandoned and ill-treated, violated and denied dignity regardless of religion and therefore to make gender justice and womens welfare a realistic claim, a more nuanced and culturally mature Bill is needed. While the rhetoric of rescuing the abandoned Muslim wife may please many, India waits for a Bill that empowers married women irrespective of religion against illegal divorce. Ananya Pathak is one of the Co-Founding Editors of the monthly magazine, The New Leam. She can be contacted at ananyapathak[at]gmail.com Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Rising Roar of Faux Faith in Poll-bound India by L.K. Sharma If you hear the rising roar of faith, it is election-time in India. Belief in God is stronger than any political belief. Faith rushes to fill the ideological vacuum and goes on to cleanse politics of the residual ideological content. Religious fervour, injected into a poll campaign, boosts popular interest in elections, promotes identity politics and alters voting preferences. That is why the ruling BJP has made religious polarisation its electoral strategy. It consolidates Hindu votes by propagating Hindutva, a militant and less inclusive version of Hinduism. The BJP leaders including L.K. Advani, who went to Ayodhya in 1992 to demand the building of a Ram temple there, were erroneously called Hindu fundamentalists. Knowing that the term fundamentalism has acquired a bad odour in the context of Islam, Advani declared that they were Hindu nationalists, not Hindu fundamentalists. He was correct because going back to the fundamentals in his religion would mean the Vedic tradition which will rob the proposed Ram temple of all significance! His 1992 movement to build a Ram temple generated a toxic mix of religion and nationalism and turned it into a potent political weapon. Till then the political armies marching under the saffron flag had not been able to make much headway. Advanis historic journey to Ayodhya in his belief-driven chariot led to the demolition of a mosque and the killings of Muslims and Hindus. Noted documentary-maker Anand Patwar-dhan says the TV serial, Ramayan, watched by millions, paved the way for the demolition of the Babri mosque. A bow-and-arrow bearing Ram entered every household and every heart. There was no social media then, but the TV too promotes pop religion and causes social disharmony. Some partisan TV channels go all out to fuel religious polarisation. During the past four years, the sectarian poison has spread much more, with incidents of mob rule becoming frequent. It has seeped into the cultured upper-class Hindu homes. The kind of people involved in violence matters. Intent is important. While sectarian violence can break out in the best of times, mental pollution sustains the process of violence. The BJP finds assemblies of Hindu monks in saffron politically valuable. Communal worship and public observance of rituals make good TV that spreads the message of Hindutva. The mythology-based TV drama helps. The Hindu nationalists wilfully ignore the theological complexities of the Vedic thought and their faiths glorious history of disputation and argumentation. They try to enforce a simplistic doctrine that supersedes the rich variegated strands of thought and belief. In order to collect Hindus on a single political platform, they want to create a central creed and designate one holy book. Above all, they want to establish the primacy of the warrior-king, Lord Ram. The people must feel, not think. To get more Hindu votes, the party must fuel envy and animosity by blaming a secular government for appeasing Muslims. In an election speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a subtle reference to the Hindu cremation grounds and the Muslim graveyards. This was a hint that the socialist state governments provision of building walls around the graveyards to protect these from encroachment was discriminatory. In the run-up to the elections, vicious statements are made to cause tensions and promote orthodoxy. What the BJP spokesmen shout at times during TV discussions is unfit to print. The Muslim spokesmen shout back, which serves the purpose of the sectarian forces. The atmosphere reeks of bigotry and hostility towards the other faith. Some children hear their parents say that so and so should be elected since he would fix a minority. They learn that when we say prayers loudly, it is worship, when they worship loudly, it is disturbing noise! As the BJP gained power, Hindutva got many new adherents. The secular leaders who used to condemn Narendra Modis sectarianism, now see a messiah in him. Several Hindutva groups have sprung up under official patronage. Their activity highlights the anti-minority dimension of Hindutva. The divisive rhetoric flows with force as the police and some in the lower rungs of the judiciary turned partisan. Some BJP leaders make weird statements that can be generally described anti-science and irrational. The power of superstitions seems to have increased. A poll candidate declares that if she is elected, the police will not be allowed to check child marriage! The fashion of wearing religion on ones sleeves has caught on. Commercial interests promote more religious festivals. The outbreak of religiosity is to be seen to be believed. More Hindu pilgrims march for miles and miles to fetch the holy Ganga water. Charitable Hindus set up tents on the footpaths for feeding the tired pilgrims. This public spectacle disrupts traffic and at times results in clashes. The attendance in temples has gone up. More Hindu temples, as also mosques and churches, are being built as a result of growing prosperity. Competitive communalism makes mosques more crowded. The temple loudspeakers volume is increased to match the sound coming from the neighbouring mosque. In this atmosphere of religious rivalry, private contemplation and meditation get devalued. A brainchild of the Hindu nationalists, Hindutva is not eclectic and dialogic. It thas been honed as a powerful tool for political mobilisation through incendiary divisive statements. Hindutva fiercely seeks converts. When popularised by a charismatic divisive leader, its political dimension overshadows spirituality. In the current atmosphere of intolerance, the political message of Hindutva is amplified through social media by political activists including the Non-Resident Indians. Little is heard about the huge difference between Hindutva and Hinduism known over the centuries as Santan Dharma. To understand the distortion of Hinduism, one has to familiarise with the real thing. Hinduism, which is tolerant and inclusive, and includes principles taken from different faiths and cultures. Even before its interaction with Islam and Christianity, Hinduism assimilated new ideas and practices while transiting from the Vedic to Puranic period. Hinduism sanctifies sacrifices of the Vedic Aryans as well as the rituals of primitive tribes. Not all Hindu gods are Aryan gods. Hinduism has no central creed and no central authority, nor does it prescribe one specific book to follow. It is not based on a revelation granted to a prophet. Hindus do not consider themselves to be the chosen people. They do not consider their faith to be superior to others. This demo-cratic religion, presided over by a Parliament of Gods, has no founder. The Divine can be reached through any of the several different ways. Two prominent ones are the path of knowledge and the path of devotion. This is asimple journalistic statement about a faith whose complexities even scholars find hard to fathom. Hinduism is studded with elegant metaphysical knots and strange paradoxes. It offers infinite choice. Those who do not like the idea of a galaxy of gods and goddesses can take comfort from the Rig Vedic thought that all the many gods are manifestation of the One Reality. Hindus revere a saint-poet who does not believe in rituals or external formalities and for whom God lives, not in a temple or a mosque but in his devotion. A Hindu can choose from the nine specified ways to perform devotion or devise one of his own. Astounding diversity is reflected not just in innumerable gods and ways of worship but also in the multiple versions of its sacred books and philosophical treatises. Rituals vary from region to region and from caste to caste. There is choice in the ways of dying. Hindus are generally cremated, but thousands of Hindus are given earthen and riverine burials. The variety of thought content, rituals and devotional practices meet the needs of all sections of society ranging from the intellectual elite to the illiterate masses. Millions recite 1000 names of one God and 1000 names of a Goddess. A sacred text features Mahadevi, literally the Great Goddess, who encompasses the thousands of local and regional devis as well as the pan-Indian goddesses. Each god or goddess is worshipped in several forms. Columnist Shobha Narayan writes about her mother being part of an ancient Hindu lineage linked to goddess worship called Sri Vidya. She says: It is visually and aesthetically very beautifulwith flowers, incense, oil lamps, hand gestures called mudras, sacred drawings called mandalas or yantras, and the chanting of mantras. Mudra,mandala and mantra, the triumvirate as it wereis at the root of this goddess cult. Hindus of one region may accord primacy to one form which may not be worshipped at all by those of another region. Then, the veneration of natural forces such as the monsoon rains and trees and of animals is common among those living in forests. Ideas and practices from the margins have been leaking into the mainstream. This interplay is seen in the Hindu religious art and objects made by Muslims. They participate in Hindu religious festivals. Eminent Muslim musicians played in Hindu temples. Muslim poets wrote devotional songs in praise of Hindu Gods. A most devout Brahmin, Congress leader Kamalapati Tripathi, had a Muslim assistant to clean and arrange the idols in his home temple before daily worship. In the absence of a set form of worship, a Hindu is free to act according to his individual belief. What counts is not belief but conduct, as stated by philosopher S. Radhakrishnan, who was Indias President. No wonder Hinduism embraces believers and non-believers, the theist and the atheist, the sceptic and the agonistic. Scholar Kshiti Mohan Sen says the uniting force among the enormous variety of religious beliefs and ceremonies in Hinduism has been the belief in a basic code of behaviour. Today he would have seen more Hindus indulging in an un-Hindu-like conduct at the behest of political leaders. The examples include the lynching of alleged beef transporters, intimidating women temple-goers, disrupting a Christian prayer meeting and demolishing a mosque. The influence of Hinduism over Islam and Christianity is reflected in the Sufi tradition and in Christian meditation and Christian Vedanta. It can be seen in the global Hare Krishna move-ment. Hinduism also contributed to the New Age faiths! Muslims and Christians extended the reach of the sacred Hindu literature by translating it and even helped preserve some of it. This is never recalled while the voters are constantly reminded of the Hindu temples destroyed by the Moghuls. Indias syncretic tradition can be attributed mainly to the diversity of Hinduism that has a history of several philosophical turns. Of course, this diversity leads to confusion over certain precepts. Differing practices and various interpretations of the same sacred text, in the absence of a validating central authority, result in mixed-up theological concepts and endless arguments. That is why theological dissent always got accommodated. Hinduism is suffused with paradoxes. The Divine is unimaginable and unknowable and yet the Divine is imagined in countless forms appearing in representational and abstract art and as idols of stone and metal. Hindus worship gods both in iconic and aniconic forms. The deity in thousands of rural temples is just a painted stone. Devotion takes the form of meditation, quiet contemplation, lighting sacrificial fire, loudout-of-tune community singing, disciplined congregational chanting, ritual bathing, fasting or even social service since God lives in every human being. There is latent divinity in every being and everything. There is an external God and the God within. God is a distant entity but then the devotee is also part of Brahman, the universal soul! Aham Brahmasmi in general terms implies the unity of individual self with the Absolute. Thus, divinity is shared by every human being. Divisive rhetoric has to be foreign to Hinduism which says: Thou art That (Tat Tvam Asi). Scholars of comparative religions can observe how Hinduism, when hijacked for political purposes, gets vulgarised. The devotees are encouraged to display faux religiosity.The Sarkari (pro-government) seers, in their so-called religious discourses, bless the Prime Minister. The ruling party needs their endorsement, the seers want political patronage.The seers are sought after by politicians more than by spiritual aspirants. Respected heads of genuine spiritual insti-tutions keep quiet about the misuse of religion for elections. Surely, they are pained by the distortion of their faith tradition, seeing an immense idea being reduced to a dismal creed. Islamic leaders get blamed for not condemning the misuse of their faith by politicians and terrorists. One may ask: where have the Hindu spiritual leaders gone? The distortion of Hinduism does not provoke much reaction while many Western Christian communities vigorously debate spirituality versus institutionalised religion. Currently there is no such discourse in Hinduism, notwith-standing its tradition of argumentation. It is left to a few secular politicians and the Leftists to offer a trenchant criticism of Hindutva. They reason well but they cannot influence those swayed by the men in saffron robes. The Leftists, not well-versed in Indias spiritual traditions, have little leverage with the faithful. Only firm believers protesting against the hijacking of our religion can make an impact. They can increase the public understanding of Hinduism unsullied by politics. Those rushing to demolish a mosque or build a temple on a disputed plot know nothing about a faith that assimilated various religions and cultural movements. They are familiar with folklore, mythology and miracles and black magic but unaware of the Vedic Song of Creation that wonders whether even the Creator knows all! That kind of questioning will be considered blasphemy and a punishable offence in some other religions. The sacred texts of Hinduism make bigotry unthinkable. In the wake of the Babri mosques demolition, Prof Amartya Sen attributed growing fanaticism to the neglect of classics in education. Fanaticism characterises politicisation of a religion which retards reforms. The Supreme Court lifted the ban on the entry of young women into a Hindu temple. The BJP launched an agitation against the entry of young women in order to uphold a sacred tradition. However, the same ruling party was all for abolishing the traditional Muslim custom of instant divorce because it oppressed the Muslim women. The BJP Government undertook the noble mission of reforming Islam but considers reformation of Hinduism as a no-go area. The BJP President advised law courts to refrain from hurting the Hindu sentiments and pass only such judgments that are implementable! Every old faith tradition accumulates undesi-rable rituals and practices and Hinduism, being a product of many cultures and cults, is more prone to do so. In its long journey, Hinduism acquired and discarded many questionable rituals. It abolished some practices partly due to the influence of Christian values but mainly by recollecting its own glorious Vedic past.There was recognition of the corruptive influence of idolatry, child-marriage, self-immolation by widows and untouchability that had no place in its ancient culture. Commenting on this process of reforms and renewal, scholar Kshiti Mohan Sen writes that the impact of the West produced new schools of thought which emphasised old doctrines. Hinduism has a rich history of reforms. Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824-83), who founded the Arya Samaj, gave the call Back to the Vedas, drawing a large section of Hindus away from idol-worship and exploitative priests. Arya Samaj established excellent educational institutions and worked to raise the status of the backward classes. It also introduced prose-lytisation, which was no part of the Hindu traditions. Swami Dayanand came from the state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had used regional pride as an electoral card. Curiously, videos glorify several sons of Gujarat, but not this Arya Samaj founder! Praising this great Gujarati will pose a problem for the party that has made the Ram temple a central issue of its political campaign. Arya Samaj opposes idol-worship. The Vedic tradition involved sacred sacrifice in the open. The Indo-Aryans did not build permanent structures for the practice of their religion. Temples began to be built much later when worship and supplication were added to sacrifice in the Hindu religious ethos. In Bengal, Raja Rammohun Roy (1774-1833) founded the Brahmo Samaj facing opposition by orthodox Hindus who were dead set against his progressive outlook on social matters. He advocated modern education and wanted Indians to learn science and technology. His agitation led to the abolition of the criminal practice of sati that ordained a wife to commit suicide by plunging into the fire consuming her dead husband. Another new school of Hinduism developed in Bengal under the influence of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa (1834-86) that appealed to the common man who just prays before a deity without bothering about theology. This simple communication with God, known as the Bhakti movement, became very popular. Earlier in the late 15th century Bengal, Chaitanya Maha-prabhu had mesmerised his followers, leading them in congregational chanting, Sankirtan. There were reformers in south India who are venerated by millions of Hindus. In British India, the conservative Hindu leaders debated with reformers vigorously, but that contestation was due to clashing beliefs and not a political strategy for use in a democracy. Today the orthodox Hindu leaders, who are corralled into supporting Prime Minister Modi, have no interest in theological debates. In the current atmosphere, Hindus hesitate to even talk of reforms lest they are called anti-Hindu. Political mobs are unleashed on the few reformists asserting the inclusiveness of Hinduism and fighting bigotry. Swami Agnivesh, a social activist who propagates the Vedic tradition, has faced physical assaults. That has not deterred him from continuing his struggle against superstitions that defile religion. Swami Agnivesh laments that politicians promote belief without truth. He reminds the people that the Vedic religion identified God with truth and Gandhi went a step further by saying that Truth is God. The Hindu nationalists always opposed religious reforms. In Nehrus secular India, they protested strongly, but the government went ahead taking steps for improving the status of Hindu women. Today it seems like a miracle that in the face of horrendous Partition-related Hindu-Muslim killings, the Congress leaders managed to establish a secular state. That feat was made possible by Hinduisms spirit of tolerance and mass adoration of the secular leaders. The parent bodies of todays Hindutva forces failed to politically challenge Nehru and destroy the Nehruvian ethos. Nehru had called development projects new temples of India! The slogan Hinduism in danger had no appeal then as Hindus had enough self-confidence. That was the India that was! Since then much water has flowed down the holy Ganga. Hinduism now figures in a story of regression. Read the newspapers, listen to the TV debates and see the WhatsApp-trained ignorant armies clash day and night. (Courtesy: Open Democracy) The author is a senior journalist and writer who worked in India and abroad (notably Britain) in several major newspapers. Now retired, he is a freelancer. Magnolia, AR (71754) Today Sun and clouds mixed. High 94F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low around 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. The wife of iconic Ahram journalist and writer Mohamed Hassanein Heikal (1923-2016), Hedayet Taymour, has signed a final agreement with Bibliotheca Alexandrina to transfer Heikal's entire personal library to the Bibliotheca. Under the agreement, Heikal's books, personal papers and belongings, in addition to his desk, will be kept at the Bibliotheca on public display. Heikal's family has said that they wish to give young Arab generations a chance to see the writer's legacy, which is part of the history of the region. Heikal covered the events of the region extensively and witnessed some of its most crucial moments in person. The agreement was signed in Heikal's home in Giza. Heikal's sons, Ahmed, Hassan and Ali, attended the signing of the agreement. The prominent Egyptian writer was born in 1923, and started his career as a journalist in the fall of 1942 at the Egyptian Gazette. His breakthrough came with his coverage of the World War II battle of Al-Alamein for the Gazette. He later moved on to join the most established editor of the time, Mohamed El-Tabei, in the most widely-circulated paper of the time; Akher Saa. Heikal joined Akhbar Al-Youm and worked closely with the Amin brothers before moving on to chair Al-Ahram in 1957 for 14 years, transforming the paper into the Arab worlds most reputable press establishment. In his later years, Heikal produced his largest volume of books offering insight into the politics of Egypt and the Middle East post Sykes-Picot up until the eve of the Arab Spring. Short link: The family of a British teenager who ran away to join the Islamic State group said Sunday she had given birth to a baby boy. The familys lawyer said 19-year-old Shamima Begum, who reportedly had wanted to come home to have her latest child, was in good health, as was her newborn. Begum is living in a refugee camp in northern Syria and wants to return to Britain with her child. Begum was one of a group of schoolgirls from Londons Bethnal Green neighborhood who went to Syria to marry Islamic State fighters in 2015 at a time when the groups online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate. She told the Times of London that her first two babies had died of illness and malnutrition. She told the newspaper she did not regret her decision to join the extremists, who have lost virtually all of the territory once under their control in Syria and Iraq. Advertisement Her legal situation remains unclear. She may face charges for supporting the banned extremist group. Two days before the babys birth was announced, Begums family in Britain said they were shocked by her comments but that she should be brought back to Britain and dealt with under the British justice system. The welfare of Shamimas unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby, who is entirely blameless in these events, the family said in the statement. The family said it was concerned about Begums mental health and characterized her as having been groomed by Islamic State fighters. A teen Islamic State bride wants to come home and have her child. Britain is in an uproar Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus participation in the U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference in Warsaw ended on a discordant note. Over the course of two days in Poland, the prime minister, who faces a reelection bid in April, was forced several times to retract or rectify statements for which he faced blistering rebuke. Two posts on official channels that caused widespread alarm were deleted, and following a third Netanyahu statement, which appeared to accuse Poland of collaboration with Nazi Germany, the Polish government threatened to withdraw from a diplomatic summit of right-wing central European nations scheduled to take place next week in Israel. Although virtually all historians would agree that many Poles did collaborate, Netanyahus comments caused an uproar in Warsaw since such allegations were deemed crimes under a recently enacted Polish law. Advertisement Speaking in a briefing Thursday, the final day of the conference, Netanyahu was quoted by nearly a dozen Israeli journalists as saying: The Poles collaborated with the Nazis, and I dont know anyone who was ever sued for such a statement, referring to the 2017 law passed by Polish parliament criminalizing any assertion that Poland was complicit in Nazi crimes against humanity during World War II. Roughly 3 million among a prewar population of some 3.58 million Polish Jews were killed in the Holocaust, as well as another 1.8 million non-Jewish Poles. Reacting on Twitter, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that under German occupation there was no Polish regime and that both the Poles and Jews were bestially murdered by the Germans. After Polish President Andrzej Duda threatened to relocate the upcoming meeting of Visegrad Group nations Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic from Jerusalem to Poland, Morawiecki announced he was canceling his participation in the summit and would send his foreign minister instead. Netanyahu refused to clarify matters when he met again with Israeli journalists on Friday, saying only, You heard me yesterday. Also dismissing the matter, an Israeli official told local media, We understand Poland is heading for elections, too. Netanyahu faces reelection in April. On Sunday, pursuant to a court victory by the Israeli Movement for Quality Government, Netanyahu was forced to relinquish his leadership of the foreign ministry. He named Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz to run the ministry, and hours later Katz waded into the controversy, telling an Israeli television reporter that Polish people collaborated with the Nazis. Meanwhile, Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist opposition party Yesh Atid and son of a Holocaust survivor, demanded that the Israeli government inform the Polish prime minister that he can cancel his flight to Israel and find somewhere else to go. The Holocaust is not up for negotiation. This was true in Netanyahus previous surrender and remains true now. The remark was a reference to a controversial joint agreement Netanyahu and Morawiecki published in June 2018, rejecting the actions aimed at blaming Poland or the Polish nation as a whole for the atrocities committed by the Nazis and their collaborators of different nations. Advertisement That attempt to quiet Israeli and Jewish outrage at Polands law was widely condemned as a concession to Holocaust revisionism, including by Israels Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. In an effort to rescue the upcoming Visegrad gathering, which Netanyahu has highlighted in campaign ads as evidence of his international prestige, his office released a statement blaming any misunderstanding on the media. In a briefing, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke of Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland. This was misquoted and misrepresented in press reports and was subsequently corrected by the journalist who issued the initial misstatement. The declaration was issued only in English, late on Friday as many Israelis sat down for the Sabbath meal. Advertisement Krzysztof Szczerski, who heads Dudas Cabinet, appeared to accept the explanation, tweeting that an article in the Jerusalem Post was an example of malicious journalistic manipulation. It was not immediately clear what journalist Netanyahus statement referred to, or why Szczerski spotlighted coverage in the Jerusalem Post. Protesters angry over a Netanyahu remark demonstrate outside the Israeli Embassy in Warsaw on Feb. 15. Poland passed a law that criminalized suggestions the country was responsible in any way for the Holocaust. (Tomasz Gzell / EPA/Shutterstock) Earlier, Netanyahu sparked worldwide confusion when he appeared to announce war with Iran. Advertisement Speaking in Hebrew, he said the importance of the Warsaw summit, in which he was seen in public with numerous Arab leaders not a common sight for a leader of Israel, which has been boycotted by most of the Arab world since its inception was that representatives of leading Arab countries are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran. His office blamed any misunderstanding on a poor translation and quickly swapped war for combating in an English-language tweet. But in Hebrew, Israelis heard their prime minister clearly, if in error, say the word war. Eager to inform the public about statements made by Gulf state leaders in a closed-door session in which ministers spoke with unusual candor, Netanyahus office posted a video of the panel to its official YouTube channel only to delete it once journalists reported its existence. In the video, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which do not maintain diplomatic ties with Israel, blamed Iran for the lack of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Advertisement Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Bahrains foreign minister, termed Iran a toxic party. If it wasnt for the toxic party guns and foot soldiers of the Islamic Republic, he said, I think we would have been much closer today in solving this issue with Israel. Saudi Arabias minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel Jubeir is heard agreeing that Iran plays a devastating role throughout the Middle East. In response to the disclosure, Jubeir maintained that Arab nations attending the Warsaw summit were unanimous in viewing Iran as the regions top destabilizing agent, but reiterated Saudi Arabias support for the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which Israel has never accepted. Advertisement Netanyahu publicly exulted his seating assignment next to the Yemeni foreign minister, posting an image of the two side by side that he captioned: Making History. The lighthearted moment was celebrated by Trumps special envoy, Jason Greenblatt, who related that Netanyahus microphone was not working so foreign minister of Yemen loaned him his microphone. Netanyahu joked about the new cooperation between Israel and Yemen. Step by step ... Greenblatt concluded, alluding to the yearnings of Israelis to end their status as a pariah state in the Middle East. The thrill was rapidly extinguished by Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled Alyemany, who dismissed the incident as an error of protocol, which he blamed on Poland in making the seating arrangements. Advertisement His presence at the conference was meant only to confront Iran, he posted, swatting away any other interpretation as political solicitation. Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent. Islamic States self-styled caliphate once spanned territory larger than South Carolina. The extremist group controlled the lives of more than 8 million Iraqi and Syrian residents and established its own currency, a taxation system and a sprawling bureaucracy that went so far as to dictate what its subjects were allowed to wear and to think. Its fighters vowed they would conquer Rome, Paris and Washington. Four years and a bloody military campaign later, all thats left of Islamic States real estate holdings is a fraction of a square mile in a remote Syrian hamlet near the border with Iraq. There, hundreds of the remaining militants and more than 1,000 members of their families were holed up on Sunday in Baghouz al Fawqani, surrounded by Kurdish-led militiamen allied with the U.S. In recent days, tens of thousands of people have streamed out of the groups shrinking enclave, many of them die-hard followers of Islamic State who moved repeatedly as the militant group ceded territory across Syria and Iraq. Advertisement On Saturday, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said their offensive had stalled at the edge of one of Baghouzs neighborhoods, where officials said Islamic State militants had prevented the last civilians from leaving and were using them as human shields. The fate of thousands of foreign-born Islamic State adherents now held in makeshift prisons and camps run by the Kurds has become the subject of heated global debate: Their home countries have long refused to repatriate them, viewing them as an unacceptable security risk and a political millstone. President Trump waded into the issue late Saturday, tweeting that the caliphate was ready to fall and that the United Kingdom and other longstanding European allies should take back more than 800 Islamic State fighters captured in Syria and put them on trial or see them released when some 2,000 U.S. military personnel withdrew from Syria. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them, Trump tweeted. The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go. We do so much, and spend so much - Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. Kurdish officials Sunday reiterated the need to arrange repatriation. This large number of mercenaries is a burden and a danger to us and all the international community. Its not just fighters, but thousands of women and children, said Abdul Karim Omar, co-chairman of the SDF Foreign Relations Committee, in an interview. The cost of housing families in the Al Hawl refugee camp, home to some 14,000 Islamic State suspects and 1,650 of the groups family members (thousands of other Islamic State family members are sprinkled across a number of camps), runs upward of $100,000 per month, said Mohammad Karo, deputy head of the Kurds refugee affairs commission. Advertisement The children, Omar said, are especially vulnerable. Theyre all raised in the mindset of terror. If theyre not sent back to their societies, rehabilitated and reintegrated, they themselves will be potential terrorists in the future, said Omar. Just because these people are in this area, that doesnt mean they dont represent a danger to the international community. Its an opportunity for these nations to round their citizens up and either make them face justice at home or rehabilitate them. Few countries have heeded the call. In January, the SDF announced that Kazakhstan had taken back five fighters, 11 women and 30 children. Last week, Saudi Arabias foreign affairs minister Adel Jubeir said his government would take back some 50 Saudi men held in Kurdish custody. Yet there is also the issue of justice for those victimized by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The fight to dislodge the group has left wide swaths of both Iraq and Syria in ruins. Residents singled out foreign members of Islamic State as being particularly vicious in applying harsh forms of their interpretation of Islamic law. Advertisement These people appear in the media and say they were tricked. Had that been true, they would have run back when they first came and saw the situation wasnt as Daesh [the Arabic word for the group] depicted it, said Ali Baroodi, a university professor in Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, which in 2014 became Islamic States Iraqi capital. Half of it was later leveled in the fight to remove the militants. He added that nations should place Islamic State members on trial in Nuremberg-style courts like those used to try Nazis. Shamima Begum, 19, has become a focus in assessing international governments reactions. The British teen, along with two of her friends, traveled to Islamic State as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2015. Within three weeks, according to interviews she gave to British media outlets, she had married Yago Riedijk, 26, a Dutch Muslim convert and fighter with Islamic State. Advertisement By the time she fled to Al Hawl earlier this week, she had given birth to two children who died as babies and was pregnant with a third. She was desperate to return to Britain, she said, for the safety of her soon-to-come baby but had nevertheless shown no remorse for joining Islamic State. The British government, including British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, sought to block her return, cancel her passport and revoke her citizenship. On Sunday, her family announced that Begum had given birth to a boy in Syria. Both she and the baby were in good health, according to the familys statement. Tasnime Akunjee, the familys lawyer, said the U.K. should take responsibility for its citizens. Advertisement You cant remove someones citizenship and render them stateless, said Akunjee in a telephone interview Sunday, adding that the U.K.s international obligations meant that Begum had to be allowed to return home. In usual circumstances, states try to track people who commit crimes and bring them to justice. Its interesting how the British government is accusing her of participating in some crime and yet is not interested at all in bringing her back to British justice. Im still wondering why thats the case. Begum, meanwhile, insisted she represented no threat. When I went to Syria, I was just a housewife. The entire four years I stayed at home, took care of my husband, took care of my kids. I never did anything. I never made propaganda, I never encouraged people to come to Syria, she said in an interview with British broadcaster Sky News on Sunday, with her newborn at her side. Advertisement She was hoping, Begum said, maybe for the sake of me and my child, they let me come back. Because I cant live in this camp forever. Its not really possible. The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial. The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them........ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2019 ....The U.S. does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go. We do so much, and spend so much - Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2019 Hes in the first race, a 6 furlong race down the hill for 3-year-old maiden claimer fillies. Its his only mount on Monday. The filly is the 5-2 favorite on the morning line. I dont really know anything about this filly Im riding, Espinoza told Mike Willman of Santa Anita. But, shes dropping in class and hopefully we can win. Im excited to get back to my routine and to feel like I have a real job again. Espinoza has been out for almost seven-months after his mount, Bobby Abu Dhabi, broke down during a workout and the jockey was thrown to the ground and initially had some paralysis. Even though Victor is a Hall of Famer and the jockey of American Pharoah and California Chrome and other great horses, hell have to prove hes his old self before he gets the number of mounts he would have had before the accident. We want to work as many horses as we can and build our business up, Espinoza said. Its always tough here and you have to work hard and show people you are 100% to get their confidence. I feel good and its great to be back. Rob Henies weekly handicapping lesson is supposed to be instructional and not viewed as a pick. Its why we dont list how the pick in the race did. Its the thinking and theories behind the pick that is more important than the outcome of a single race. Well, were going to break that rule and mention that if you played his two horses from Saturday in the exacta it was worth $73.20 with his second horse winning. Maxim Rate paid $59.40 to win. Way to go, Rob. The big race was the Grade 2 $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes for older fillies and mares going seven furlongs. Selcourt went to the lead and looked strong until early in the stretch when Marleys Freedom started gathering up ground. Marleys Freedom won by 1 lengths. [Trainer] Bob [ Baffert ] told me to be sure to warm her up real good and to get her running away from there, said jockey Drayden Van Dyke . She did and we had a good tactical spot. I was just sitting on her, but I had to get after Selcourt a little early because it looked like she was running pretty easy on the lead. [Secourt] flew out of there, she broke like a shot [Saturday] and we got to set our own fractions, said Joe Talamo , who was aboard Selcourt. She was very relaxed and hats off to the winner. Man, Marleys Freedom has been able to string some really nice races together. I was really proud of my mare though. Even when Marleys Freedom came to her, she was fighting. I thought we were going to steal it there for a second at the top of the lane. There was also a minor stakes on the card, the $70,000 Wishing Well Stakes, which was taken off the 6 -furlong hillside course and made a five-furlong turf race on the main course. The thinking was the hillside course was not ready for safe racing and rather than move the race to the dirt, it was shortened up and run on a flat course. This contingency is spelled out in the conditions. It caused only two scratches as nine horses went to post. Right out of the gate, Poster Girl unseated Mike Smith . The horse continued to run the race but did not significantly interfere with the field and never got close to the winner. Both horse and jockey were OK after the incident. In the third race, the favorite, Palladium was pulled up on the backstretch by Rosario. The colt was never engaged in the race and just kept losing ground. However, and we hope this is good news, the horse walked back to the barns under his own power. If you like turf racing, youll love Sundays card at Santa Anita with five of the nine races on the grass. If you like high quality racing, ah, youre not going to be crazy about Santa Anitas card. Its the rare weekend day when there isnt even a low level stakes on the card. Now, this is a five-day racing week with a couple of big Cal-bred races on Monday. The turf races are the odd numbered ones with a 12:30 p.m. first post. The average field size is 7.9. The feature is the seventh race, a one-mile allowance/optional claimer on the turf for older horses with a $59,000 purse. There are 11 starters with three on the also eligible list, so it should be a very full field. Maestro Dearte, at 7-2, is the favorite for trainer Peter Eurton and Van Dyke. He is two-for-seven lifetime and has been running nothing but AOCs since breaking his maiden in his second start. He was second last out on Dec. 28. The second favorite is Keep Quiet at 9-2. This will be his second West Coast start after racing back east for his first 12 races. He is three-of-13 lifetime. He won last out on Jan. 20 for Miller and Flavien Prat . Four-year-old gelding from the Bill Spawr barn has been away since Dec. 1 and is facing older for the first time but could be live at a solid price. He moved up in class after being tagged for $50,000 in July and finished mid-pack in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby in his last start. The works look solid, he's drawn well inside and should get a legitimate pace to run at. Main worries are favorites Keep Quiet and Maestro Dearte. Saturdays result: Off-the-turf and off the board for Kinchiro, who was bet down and sat third early but packed it in on the turn. Likely wants turf to show his best. He went well when crossing the wire third although moved up to second after the disqualification of the first-place finisher when facing a productive cast of rivals in a trial to the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Jan. 19. In that effort, Jess Bein Me broke a step slow and was brushed by a veering rival to lose a length of ground to the leaders. He was then heavily crowded by his rivals in the final half of this 400 yards, yet never backed down and showed a lot of fight to the finish line. Hell be tough to deny in this race with a typical performance for the high powered jockey/trainer combo of Eduardo Nicasio and Chris ODell . (No worries, Ed Burgart hasnt gone away, hes just on vacation. Chris Wade has been the racing analyst and host of the Los Alamitos night simulcast broadcast for nearly two decades. While Ed is on vacation, Chris also fills in as the nighttime morning-line maker.) Always looking to add more subscribers to 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. Santa Anita Charts Results for Saturday, February 16. Copyright 2019 by Equibase Company. Reproduction prohibited. Santa Anita, Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California. 32nd day of a 61-day meet. Clear & Good FIRST RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $55,000. Maiden Special Weight. Fillies. 3 year olds. Time 21.96 44.71 56.85 1:09.58 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Hard Not to Love 124 3 3 11 11 11 13 Pereira 3.00 6 Flat Out Joy 124 5 2 2hd 21 22 22 Talamo 1.50 2 Over Emphasize 124 2 1 33 37 38 33 Van Dyke 1.40 5 Morning Cynn 117 4 4 5 5 42 410 Diaz, Jr. 13.50 1 Thought I'dmissyou 124 1 5 45 44 5 5 Franco 15.00 3 HARD NOT TO LOVE 8.00 3.80 2.10 6 FLAT OUT JOY 3.20 2.10 2 OVER EMPHASIZE 2.10 $1 EXACTA (3-6) $11.70 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (3-6-2-5) $4.62 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-6-2) $8.50 WinnerHard Not to Love B.f.3 by Hard Spun out of Loving Vindication, by Vindication. Bred by Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. (ON). Trainer: John A. Shirreffs. Owner: Mercedes Stables LLC, Dilworth, Scott, Ingordo, David, Ingordo, Dorothy and Mooney, F. Steve. Mutuel Pool $201,725 Exacta Pool $77,425 Superfecta Pool $18,725 Trifecta Pool $42,811. ScratchedChocolate Speights. HARD NOT TO LOVE a step slow to begin, went up between horses to the early lead, angled in and set the pace inside, responded when the runner-up loomed leaving the turn, inched away again and won clear under left handed urging. FLAT OUT JOY stalked outside a rival then off the rail leaving the turn, came a bit wide into the stretch and was clearly second best. OVER EMPHASIZE close up stalking the winner inside then a bit off the rail to the stretch and held third. MORNING CYNN broke a bit slowly, settled outside a rival then off the rail, came around a rival into the stretch, drifted in late and did not rally. THOUGHT I'DMISSYOU broke inward and slowly, saved ground chasing the pace throughout and weakened in the drive. FLAT OUT JOY wore calks. SECOND RACE. 1 1/8 Mile Turf. Purse: $30,000. Starter Allowance. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Price $20,000. Time 23.57 48.45 1:13.15 1:38.43 1:51.02 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 1 War Moccasin 117 1 2 62 62 61 2 1hd Diaz, Jr. 9.80 5 Halo Darlin 122 5 1 12 12 1 12 21 Rosario 1.90 7 Believe Indeed 124 7 6 7 7 7 7 31 Bejarano 2.80 4 Indypendent Deputy 124 4 7 52 53 52 3hd 43 Desormeaux 7.00 2 Miss Boom Boom 124 2 3 4 4 4hd 62 51 Gutierrez 3.30 6 Speakers 124 6 4 31 31 31 5hd 61 Van Dyke 7.50 3 Kennedie Sky 124 3 5 21 21 2 4hd 7 Delgadillo 49.30 1 WAR MOCCASIN 21.60 7.20 4.40 5 HALO DARLIN 4.00 2.80 7 BELIEVE INDEED 2.80 $2 ROULETTE (GREEN) $6.60 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-1) $91.20 $1 EXACTA (1-5) $46.50 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (1-5-7-4) $49.95 50-CENT TRIFECTA (1-5-7) $74.00 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (1-5-7-4-2) Carryover $1,336 WinnerWar Moccasin Dbb.m.5 by War Chant out of Suede Shoe, by Pulpit. Bred by Calumet Farm (KY). Trainer: Javier Jose Sierra. Owner: Frank Reynoso, Jr.. Mutuel Pool $143,701 Roulette Pool $224 Daily Double Pool $35,646 Exacta Pool $70,794 Superfecta Pool $24,563 Trifecta Pool $43,520 X-5 Super High Five Pool $1,750. Scratchednone. WAR MOCCASIN chased inside then a bit off the rail leaving the backstretch and on the second turn, came three deep into the stretch, angled out in upper stretch, drifted in some in midstretch then rallied under left handed urging to edge the runner-up late. HALO DARLIN pulled some while outside a rival early then angled in and set the pace inside, responded when challenged into and on the second turn, shook clear again in the stretch and held on well but was nailed late. BELIEVE INDEED angled in and saved ground off the pace, cut the corner into the stretch and finished willingly along the rail for the show. INDYPENDENT DEPUTY stalked the pace outside a rival, came out into the stretch, was in a bit tight four wide between foes in midstretch and lacked a rally. MISS BOOM BOOM saved ground stalking the pace, came out some into the stretch, angled back to the inside in midstretch, was between foes in deep stretch and lacked a further response. SPEAKERS stalked just off the rail, bid three deep into and on the second turn, came three wide into the stretch, was in a bit tight between foes in midstretch and weakened. KENNEDIE SKY close up stalking the pace a bit off the rail, bid between horse into and on the second turn and into the stretch, continued between rivals in midstretch and also weakened. THIRD RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $35,000. Claiming. 3 year olds. Claiming Prices $32,000-$28,000. Time 23.28 46.66 1:10.79 1:23.40 1:36.07 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Swamp Souffle 124 3 2 21 21 1 14 17 Franco 2.50 2 Vangilder 122 2 4 410 3hd 3hd 31 21 Desormeaux 4.40 1 Ack 115 1 1 11 1hd 22 22 34 Diaz, Jr. 5.50 4 Poppy's C Note 122 4 3 3hd 4 4 4 4 T Baze 13.40 5 Palladium 124 5 5 5 dnf Rosario 1.00 3 SWAMP SOUFFLE 7.00 4.40 4.00 2 VANGILDER 6.20 5.20 1 ACK 6.40 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (1-3) $84.80 $1 EXACTA (3-2) $16.70 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-2-1) $32.05 WinnerSwamp Souffle B.g.3 by Bodemeister out of Yes She Is, by Seeking the Gold. Bred by Craig L. Wheeler & Barry Berkelhammer (FL). Trainer: George Papaprodromou. Owner: Kretz Racing LLC. Mutuel Pool $167,283 Daily Double Pool $14,971 Exacta Pool $71,785 Trifecta Pool $59,294. ClaimedSwamp Souffle by Acker, Tom, Becker Barry and Judith and Wafer, Tom. Trainer: William Spawr. ClaimedPalladium by Brehm Jr., Erich R. Trainer: J. Desormeaux. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (3-1-3) paid $77.15. Pick Three Pool $39,251. SWAMP SOUFFLE had speed between horses early, stalked just off the rail on the first turn then bid outside the pacesetter on the backstretch and second turn, took a short lead leaving that turn, inched away into the stretch and drew off under some urging and steady handling. VANGILDER pulled along the inside and steadied midway on the first turn, tugged his way into a tight spot off heels leaving that turn, saved ground then came a bit off the rail leaving the backstretch and on the second turn and into the stretch and outfinished a rival for the place. ACK sped to the early lead, set the pace inside then dueled along the rail, fought back on the second turn, was not a match for the winner in the stretch and was outfinished for second. POPPY'S C NOTE had speed three deep then stalked outside a rival, came out into the stretch and weakened. PALLADIUM angled in and dropped back a bit off the rail, fell well behind on the backstretch and was pulled up approaching the second turn and walked off. FOURTH RACE. 1 1/8 Mile Turf. Purse: $55,000. Maiden Special Weight. 3 year olds. Time 23.41 47.67 1:13.27 1:38.29 1:50.21 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 5 Storms River 124 5 11 8hd 8hd 6hd 1hd 11 Talamo 2.70 7 Parsimony 124 7 2 21 1 21 24 24 Gutierrez 2.70 3 Speakerofthehouse 124 3 10 93 92 81 51 32 Van Dyke 21.50 4 American Camp 124 4 5 71 6hd 5hd 3hd 41 Pereira 58.10 10 Harmon 124 10 7 11 11 9hd 1025 51 Smith 7.10 6 Mutineer 124 6 9 5 51 72 7 6 Bejarano 16.60 1 Union Station 124 1 6 10hd 101 11 8hd 7 T Baze 39.70 2 Thief of Joy 124 2 8 41 3hd 3 62 82 Gryder 14.50 9 Montana Moon 124 9 1 3 43 1hd 4hd 91 Desormeaux 11.10 8 Mo Mississippi 124 8 4 1 21 41 9 1051 Rosario 3.60 11 Potantico 124 11 3 61 71 10 11 11 Franco 33.80 5 STORMS RIVER 7.40 3.40 3.00 7 PARSIMONY 3.80 3.20 3 SPEAKEROFTHEHOUSE 8.80 $2 ROULETTE (RED) $3.20 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-5) $30.60 $1 EXACTA (5-7) $11.00 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (5-7-3-4) $175.83 50-CENT TRIFECTA (5-7-3) $60.15 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (5-7-3-4-10) Carryover $3,911 WinnerStorms River Dbb.c.3 by Midnight Lute out of Llandudno, by Belong to Me. Bred by Keith Abrahams (KY). Trainer: John W. Sadler. Owner: Hronis Racing LLC and Abrahams, Keith. Mutuel Pool $379,969 Roulette Pool $622 Daily Double Pool $27,061 Exacta Pool $213,014 Superfecta Pool $98,466 Trifecta Pool $144,731 X-5 Super High Five Pool $3,378. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (1-3-5) paid $71.35. Pick Three Pool $19,807. STORMS RIVER broke a bit slowly, angled in and chased outside a rival, moved up three deep on the second turn and into the stretch, bid outside the runner-up to gain a slim lead, battled outside that one in the final furlong and inched away late under urging. PARSIMONY had speed outside foes then angled in and dueled inside, regained the advantage on the second turn, fought back along the rail in the stretch, could not quite match the winner late but continued willingly to best the others. SPEAKEROFTHEHOUSE between foes early, angled in and chased inside, came out into the stretch and gained the show. AMERICAN CAMP pulled between foes and steadied early, angled in and stalked inside, continued along the rail in the stretch and lacked the necessary response. HARMON angled in and settled outside a rival, came out on the second turn and four wide into the stretch and improved position. MUTINEER pulled between horses early, chased just off the rail or outside a rival, continued between foes into and on the second turn, came out into the stretch and weakened. UNION STATION saved ground off the pace, came out leaving the second turn and three wide into the stretch and lacked a rally. THIEF OF JOY (IRE) stalked the pace inside, came out into the stretch, angled back inward in midstretch and weakened. MONTANA MOON pulled while wide in the stretch the first time, stalked outside then tugged his way up three deep with a bid on the backstretch, dueled outside the runner-up on the backstretch and second turn, was between foes into the stretch, lugged in some in midstretch and also weakened. MO MISSISSIPPI pulled a bit wide early then angled in and dueled outside a rival, stalked alongside a foe on the backstretch and into the second turn, came out four wide into the stretch and also weakened. POTANTICO angled in and settled outside a rival chasing the pace, dropped back into and on the second turn, came out into the stretch, gave way and was eased through the lane. FIFTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $55,000. Maiden Special Weight. 3 year olds. Time 22.34 45.59 1:10.64 1:17.02 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 7 Prodigal Son 122 6 1 21 1hd 11 12 Gutierrez 1.60 1 Golden Birthday 122 1 5 3hd 3hd 2 21 T Baze 29.70 4 Starring John Wain 122 3 3 6 6 53 31 Rosario 3.90 6 Play Money 122 5 6 1hd 21 32 41 Talamo 1.20 5 Don'tteasethetiger 122 4 4 42 43 42 58 Gryder 7.70 3 Derby Star 122 2 2 52 52 6 6 Payeras 54.60 7 PRODIGAL SON 5.20 3.40 2.40 1 GOLDEN BIRTHDAY 16.60 5.00 4 STARRING JOHN WAIN 2.80 $2 ROULETTE (RED) $2.20 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (5-7) $20.60 $1 EXACTA (7-1) $36.50 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (7-1-4-6) $35.09 50-CENT TRIFECTA (7-1-4) $70.50 WinnerProdigal Son B.r.3 by Square Eddie out of Stretchinthelimits, by In Excess (IRE). Bred by Reddam Racing, LLC (CA). Trainer: Doug F. O'Neill. Owner: Reddam Racing LLC. Mutuel Pool $310,959 Roulette Pool $1,077 Daily Double Pool $38,026 Exacta Pool $129,761 Superfecta Pool $57,328 Trifecta Pool $87,512. ScratchedCurry. 50-Cent Pick Three (3-5-7) paid $24.95. Pick Three Pool $61,298. 50-Cent Pick Four (1-3-5-7) 424 tickets with 4 correct paid $245.10. Pick Four Pool $136,159. 50-Cent Pick Five (3-1-3-5-7) 282 tickets with 5 correct paid $1,420.15. Pick Five Pool $464,709. PRODIGAL SON sped to the early lead then angled in and dueled inside, inched away just off the rail in the stretch and proved best under urging. GOLDEN BIRTHDAY a bit slow to begin, saved ground chasing the pace throughout and gained the place. STARRING JOHN WAIN settled off the rail, angled to the inside on the turn, came out around a rival into the stretch and picked up the show. PLAY MONEY broke slowly, went up outside the winner to duel for the lead, fought back on the turn and into the stretch and weakened in the final furlong. DON'TTEASETHETIGER was in a good position stalking the pace outside the runner-up on the backstretch and turn and weakened in the drive. DERBY STAR chased off the rail, angled in some on the turn and again into the stretch and had little left for the drive. SIXTH RACE. 1 Mile Turf. Purse: $55,000. Maiden Special Weight. Fillies. 3 year olds. Time 22.42 47.44 1:12.34 1:25.05 1:37.47 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 7 Maxim Rate 124 7 8 9 7 5hd 4 11 Atzeni 28.70 4 Unicorn 124 4 4 21 21 21 1 22 Pereira 1.20 1 Mercy Mercy 124 1 1 5hd 61 61 5hd 31 Bejarano 3.40 3 Holly Hundy 124 3 2 1hd 1hd 1hd 21 4ns Franco 5.80 8 Posit 124 8 10 3hd 3 3hd 31 52 Gutierrez 6.30 11 Kittyhawk Lass 124 11 9 11 11 11 104 6 Talamo 17.90 10 Suprema 124 10 6 6hd 5hd 82 9 7 Desormeaux 60.00 6 Happy Tune 124 6 5 71 8 91 81 8 Rosario 28.70 2 Emrata 124 2 7 41 41 41 64 9 Van Dyke 20.10 5 Meanasasnake 124 5 3 8 9hd 7hd 7 1010 Gryder 52.80 9 Live the Moment 124 9 11 102 104 10 11 11 T Baze 36.00 7 MAXIM RATE 59.40 16.00 6.80 4 UNICORN 3.60 2.60 1 MERCY MERCY 2.80 $2 ROULETTE (BLACK) $3.20 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (7-7) $112.60 $1 EXACTA (7-4) $73.20 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (7-4-1-3) $97.78 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (7-4-1-3-8) $6,495.80 50-CENT TRIFECTA (7-4-1) $114.05 WinnerMaxim Rate Grr.f.3 by Exchange Rate out of Catch My Eye, by Unbridled's Song. Bred by Fred W. Hertrich lll & John D. Fielding (KY). Trainer: Simon Callaghan. Owner: Slam Dunk Racing. Mutuel Pool $360,139 Roulette Pool $474 Daily Double Pool $29,405 Exacta Pool $182,560 Superfecta Pool $76,222 Super High Five Pool $3,386 Trifecta Pool $117,012. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (5-7-7) paid $123.30. Pick Three Pool $72,784. MAXIM RATE stalked between horses, came out three wide into the stretch and rallied under urging to get up nearing the wire. UNICORN angled in and dueled outside a rival, took a short lead into the stretch, inched away in deep stretch and was caught late. MERCY MERCY saved ground chasing the pace, was in a bit tight into the second turn, came out into the stretch and split rivals late for the show. HOLLY HUNDY had speed between horses then angled in and dueled inside, fought back on the second turn and until past midstretch and weakened late. POSIT stalked the pace outside a rival, came three deep into the stretch and lacked the needed response. KITTYHAWK LASS allowed to settle and angled to the inside into the first turn, saved ground, came out around a rival into the stretch and improved position. SUPREMA stalked three deep, drifted four wide into the stretch and weakened. HAPPY TUNE pulled between horses and steadied off heels into the first turn, chased between foes or a bit off the rail, angled in entering the stretch and also weakened. EMRATA saved ground stalking the pace to the stretch and weakened in the final furlong. MEANASASNAKE angled in early, was in tight early on the first turn, saved ground chasing the pace and lacked a response in the stretch. LIVE THE MOMENT broke a bit slowly, drifted out into the first turn, chased three deep then outside a rival on the second turn, angled to the inside entering the stretch and had little left for the drive. SEVENTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $18,000. Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Prices $12,500-$10,500. Time 22.22 45.95 1:11.72 1:18.37 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 6 Whirling 124 6 6 6hd 4hd 2hd 1hd Van Dyke 1.30 4 Lucky Val 124 4 5 21 21 32 2 Flores 6.80 1 Heloise 124 1 7 8 3hd 1 38 Fuentes 4.00 2 Copper Cowgirl 114 2 4 1hd 1 42 42 Velez 11.20 5 Gia Lula 119 5 3 5hd 7 51 5hd Espinoza 2.90 3 Mousey Mousey 122 3 8 4 6hd 61 6 Franco 21.20 7 Warm It Up 124 7 1 71 8 75 717 Linares 24.70 8 Annitasheaven 124 8 2 31 51 8 8 Martinez 66.70 6 WHIRLING 4.60 3.20 2.60 4 LUCKY VAL 5.80 3.80 1 HELOISE 2.80 $2 ROULETTE (RED) $2.80 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (7-6) $124.40 $1 EXACTA (6-4) $12.40 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (6-4-1-2) $11.24 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (6-4-1-2-5) $259.10 50-CENT TRIFECTA (6-4-1) $15.85 WinnerWhirling Dbb.f.4 by Twirling Candy out of Make Music, by Unbridled's Song. Bred by W. S. Farish & E.J. Hudson, Jr.Irrevocable Trust (KY). Trainer: Richard E. Mandella. Owner: Bass II, Perry R. and Bass, Ramona S.. Mutuel Pool $204,052 Roulette Pool $372 Daily Double Pool $22,783 Exacta Pool $109,889 Superfecta Pool $52,062 Super High Five Pool $4,074 Trifecta Pool $79,339. ClaimedWhirling by Andreas Loizu. Trainer: George Papaprodromou. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (7-7-6) paid $73.70. Pick Three Pool $44,079. WHIRLING stalked four wide then five wide into the turn, bid four wide into the stretch, battled outside rivals through the final furlong and gamely prevailed under urging. LUCKY VAL had speed between horses and drifted out a bit early, dueled outside a rival then three deep between foes into the stretch, battled between rivals through the final furlong and continued gamely to the end. HELOISE stalked inside, bid along the fence leaving the turn to gain a short lead, came off the inside in the stretch and fought back off the rail to the wire. COPPER COWGIRL had good early speed and dueled a bit off the rail then between foes leaving the turn and into the stretch and weakened. GIA LULA steadied in tight early, stalked between horses to the stretch and also weakened. MOUSEY MOUSEY stalked inside then between foes into the turn, fell back some, angled to the inside into the stretch and also weakened. WARM IT UP chased three deep between rivals then off the rail on the turn, swung five wide into the stretch and lacked a further response. ANNITASHEAVEN angled in early, stalked four wide then three deep between horses on the turn, drifted four wide into the stretch, drifted inward in the drive and gave way. The stewards conducted an inquiry into the early running but made no change when they ruled to trouble to GIA LULA was mostly caused by ANNITASHEAVEN. COPPER COWGIRL wore calks. EIGHTH RACE. 5 Furlongs Turf. Purse: $70,000. 'Wishing Well Stakes'. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Time 22.02 44.82 56.39 Pgm Horse Wt PP St 3/16 3/8 Str Fin Jockey $1 7 Belvoir Bay 124 5 2 21 12 14 14 Rosario 0.70 2 Lady Suebee 122 2 4 42 41 2 21 Delgadillo 14.10 8 A Little Bit Me 122 6 7 5hd 5 4 3 Franco 9.00 9 Painting Corners 122 7 3 3hd 2 32 4 Van Dyke 5.40 10 Quebec 122 8 6 61 63 51 5 Bejarano 8.20 5 Lynne's Legacy 122 4 5 8 8 72 64 T Baze 41.40 11 Mongolian Shopper 122 9 1 1 3hd 62 72 Fuentes 52.10 3 Tesora 122 3 8 73 72 8 8 Desormeaux 13.10 1 Poster Girl 122 1 9 dnf Smith 11.60 7 BELVOIR BAY (GB) 3.40 2.60 2.40 2 LADY SUEBEE 7.80 7.40 8 A LITTLE BIT ME 4.20 $2 ROULETTE (RED) $2.40 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (6-7) $9.80 $1 EXACTA (7-2) $17.60 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (7-2-8-9) $45.64 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (7-2-8-9-10) $977.30 50-CENT TRIFECTA (7-2-8) $53.20 WinnerBelvoir Bay (GB) B.m.6 by Equiano (FR) out of Path of Peace (GB), by Rock of Gibraltar (IRE). Bred by Mrs R. D. Peacock (GB). Trainer: Peter Miller. Owner: Gary Barber. Mutuel Pool $341,633 Roulette Pool $785 Daily Double Pool $24,873 Exacta Pool $169,566 Superfecta Pool $78,298 Super High Five Pool $5,122 Trifecta Pool $119,056. ScratchedBarbara Beatrice, Birdie Gold, Compelled, Emboldened, La Sardane (FR), Spin Me a Kiss, Spy Ring (IRE). 50-Cent Pick Three (7-6-7) paid $83.05. Pick Three Pool $46,272. BELVOIR BAY (GB) had speed between horses to duel for the lead, continued inside leaving the backstretch, inched clear on the turn, opened up under a mild hand ride in the stretch and drew off without further encouragement. LADY SUEBEE pressed then stalked the pace inside, continued along the rail in the stretch to be second best. A LITTLE BIT ME angled in and saved ground stalking the pace, came out leaving the turn and three wide into the stretch and got up for the show. PAINTING CORNERS stalked the pace outside a rival then three deep leaving the turn and into the stretch and was edged for third. QUEBEC chased outside a rival, came out leaving the turn and four wide into the stretch and was outfinished for a minor award. LYNNE'S LEGACY settled outside a rival then inside on the turn, continued along the rail in the stretch and lacked the needed rally. MONGOLIAN SHOPPER had speed three deep then dueled outside the winner, stalked between horses leaving the turn and weakened. TESORA chased a bit off the rail then was forced out some by the riderless horse leaving the backstretch, was fanned five wide by that one into the stretch and weakened. POSTER GIRL (GB) leaned in a bit and broke slowly and had the rider get caught up with the assistant starter to lose an iron then lost the rider. The stewards conducted in inquiry into the start before ruling POSTER GIRL was the cause of her own trouble. NINTH RACE. 7 Furlongs. Purse: $200,000. 'Santa Monica Stakes'. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Time 22.48 45.07 1:09.77 1:22.34 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Marley's Freedom 124 3 2 31 2hd 22 11 Van Dyke 0.70 2 Selcourt 120 2 1 12 12 1 21 Talamo 5.60 5 Mopotism 120 4 4 4 4 31 32 Gutierrez 20.90 6 Escape Clause 122 5 3 5 5 41 43 T Baze 3.00 1 Paradise Woods 120 1 5 2hd 3 5 5 Rosario 5.30 3 MARLEY'S FREEDOM 3.40 2.40 2.10 2 SELCOURT 4.20 3.20 5 MOPOTISM 3.80 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (7-3) $4.80 $1 EXACTA (3-2) $5.50 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (3-2-5-6) $4.41 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-2-5) $12.35 WinnerMarley's Freedom B.m.5 by Blame out of Relaxing Green, by Formal Gold. Bred by Jack Swain III (KY). Trainer: Bob Baffert. Owner: Cicero Farms, LLC. Mutuel Pool $333,076 Daily Double Pool $36,438 Exacta Pool $107,076 Superfecta Pool $38,414 Trifecta Pool $69,609. ScratchedAmuse, Dream Tree. 50-Cent Pick Three (6-7-3) paid $3.40. Pick Three Pool $38,020. MARLEY'S FREEDOM stalked a bit off the rail, bid outside the runner-up under left handed urging in midstretch, gained the advantage past the eighth pole and inched away late then was under a long hold in the final strides. SELCOURT sped to the early lead, drifted out a bit at the gap then angled in and set the pace inside, fought back along the rail in the stretch, could not match the winner in the final sixteenth but held well for the place. MOPOTISM three deep early, stalked between horses then off the rail, continued three wide between foes on the turn and into the stretch and bested the others. ESCAPE CLAUSE stalked four wide then outside into and on the turn, came four wide into the stretch and lacked a rally. PARADISE WOODS tugged her way along to stalk the pace inside, continued along the rail on the turn and into and through the stretch and also weakened. SELCOURT wore calks. TENTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $32,000. Maiden Claiming. 3 year olds. Claiming Prices $50,000-$45,000. Time 22.01 45.19 1:11.10 1:17.76 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 6 Surprise Fashion 124 4 10 10 71 43 1 Rosario 7.20 8 Secret Courier 124 6 5 2 21 12 21 Gryder 5.40 13 Railman 124 10 4 4 31 21 31 Bejarano 2.50 2 Violent Behavior 124 2 3 51 52 3hd 49 Maldonado 5.20 1 Kichiro 124 1 9 3hd 4hd 52 51 T Baze 2.50 7 Spectator's Dream 115 5 8 93 81 7 65 Leon 84.40 12 Red Valor 124 9 6 61 63 88 73 Flores 55.30 5 Palaleo 124 3 1 11 1hd 61 83 Fuentes 9.00 11 Craig's 124 8 7 81 10 92 910 Pereira 57.40 9 King Lebron 115 7 2 7hd 91 10 10 Diaz, Jr. 26.80 6 SURPRISE FASHION 16.40 7.20 3.60 8 SECRET COURIER 7.20 4.80 13 RAILMAN 3.20 $2 ROULETTE (BLACK) $2.80 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-6) $39.20 $1 EXACTA (6-8) $66.60 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (6-8-13-2) $93.75 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (6-8-13-2-1) $1,409.30 50-CENT TRIFECTA (6-8-13) $144.55 WinnerSurprise Fashion B.g.3 by Congrats out of Holiday Fashion, by Harlan's Holiday. Bred by Fred W. Hertrich lll & John D. Fielding (KY). Trainer: Victor L. Garcia. Owner: Lucky Charm Stable. Mutuel Pool $412,803 Roulette Pool $485 Daily Double Pool $70,004 Exacta Pool $219,779 Superfecta Pool $129,505 Super High Five Pool $16,620 Trifecta Pool $160,996. ScratchedRiver God, Samurai Jack, Silent Musketier. 50-Cent Pick Three (7-3-6) paid $18.80. Pick Three Pool $98,483. 50-Cent Pick Four (6-4/6/7/12/13/14/15/16-3/4/7-6) 7726 tickets with 4 correct paid $48.15. Pick Four Pool $487,920. 50-Cent Pick Five (7-6-4/6/7/12-16-3/4/7-6) 234 tickets with 5 correct paid $1,293.40. Pick Five Pool $396,063. 20-Cent Pick Six Jackpot (7-7-6-4/6/7/12-16-3/4/7-6) 67 tickets with 6 correct paid $1,443.08. Pick Six Jackpot Pool $180,325. Pick Six Jackpot Carryover $190,102. SURPRISE FASHION broke a bit slowly, angled in and settled inside then a bit off the rail, swung three deep into the stretch and rallied under urging to catch the runner-up late. SECRET COURIER drifted out a bit early, stalked off the rail, bid outside the pacesetter on the turn to gain the lead nearing the quarter pole, inched away into the stretch, kicked clear and held on well but was caught nearing the wire. RAILMAN had speed four wide then stalked outside, angled in some leaving the turn, angled in again in the stretch and held third. VIOLENT BEHAVIOR stalked outside a rival then a bit off the rail, came three wide into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. KICHIRO broke a bit slowly, went up inside to stalk the pace, came out into the stretch and weakened. SPECTATOR'S DREAM angled in and settled inside then a bit off the rail on the turn and into the stretch and did not rally. RED VALOR pulled between horses and steadied in tight nearing the five eighths pole, chased outside, came three wide into the stretch and weakened. PALALEO sped to the early lead, set the pace a bit off the rail then inside, dueled on the turn and weakened in the drive. CRAIG'S settled outside, angled in alongside a rival on the turn and lacked a further response. KING LEBRON chased off the rail then between horses, dropped back and angled to the inside on the turn and gave way. Corey Seager put on a batting helmet and stepped to the plate with a bat in hand Friday morning. On the mound was right-hander Josh Sborz, a Dodgers minor leaguer. Seager wore shorts. He didnt wear batting gloves, and he didnt swing the bat once. He was crashing Sborzs bullpen session in the 10-pack of mounds at the back of Camelback Ranch. It was a sign of progress. The brief exercise Seager took about 15 pitches was designed to have the shortstop track pitches. He had not faced a live arm since April before he underwent elbow ligament replacement and hip surgeries. A couple of hurdles remain he has not taken live batting practice or thrown across the field from shortstop yet and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he is not sure when Seager will appear in a Cactus League game, but Seager and the Dodgers remain cautiously optimistic he will be available for opening day. Its a really good feeling, Seager said Saturday. Its nice to feel like youre able to do everything and not have to worry anymore. Ive reached all those steps where I feel healthy now, and I have to do the last couple little things before I can go. Seager, 24, had Tommy John surgery in May. In August, he had arthroscopic surgery on his left hip to repair a lingering issue that forced him to miss games in April. By August, the Dodgers had acquired All-Star Manny Machado to play shortstop, but Roberts said the club thought Seager, the 2016 National League rookie of the year and a two-time All-Star, was its shortstop moving forward. Advertisement I didnt have the conversation one time with Corey, Roberts said. Manny was here to fill a hole. We made a decision as an organization at the deadline or near it. But Corey was always going to be our short-term and long-term plan, so I didnt feel the need to have that conversation. Seager remained in Los Angeles most of the offseason, progressing through the rehabilitation on both fronts. He arrived in Arizona earlier this month and took batting practice for the first time since the surgeries. He has run the bases, fielded ground balls at shortstop, and stretched his throwing distance to 135 feet. Nothing has gone amiss. There was some balls he was challenging on going in the hole yesterday that I saw and sort of cringed at times, Roberts recalled. But he said he felt good and felt really normal and quick. It was encouraging. Sign up for our Dodgers newsletter Seager explained that the hip surgery made a greater impact than he imagined. He said he has found it easier to stabilize, to stay in a squat and hold it longer, and has sensed a better range of motion. He did not pin any previous physical limitations to the relative struggles he endured in the 26 games he played last season. Those, he asserted, were the result of a self-induced funk. He batted .267 with two home runs and posted a .744 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, unable to make necessary adjustments for better production. But the sample size was insignificant. Chances are a healthy Seager the one with a .305 batting average and .876 OPS over his first two-plus seasons would have corrected the issues and snapped out of the lull. The opportunity did not arise. Instead, Seager watched the Dodgers lose in another World Series without him. Sign up for our daily sports newsletter Advertisement He handled it as well as he couldve handled it, Roberts said. There was many times he wanted to pull his hair out. There were times he didnt want to be around the ballpark because it hurt him so much not to participate. And there were other times he had to be there because he wanted to be a part of it. But Coreys a guy thats built to play every day and wants to play and compete. Extra bases Roberts said the club has decided who will be the starting pitcher opening day, but he declined to disclose the information. Clayton Kershaw is a near lock. The left-hander has started eight times on opening day. Right-hander Ross Stripling has not reported to the Dodgers facility the last two days because of flu-like symptoms, Roberts said. jorge.castillo@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @jorgecastillo As President Trump pushes Mexico further away, declaring a national emergency to force the construction of a wall along the border, Gov. Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers have made clear they want to draw the country closer. Along with a commitment to reopen a trade office in Mexico City, the governor also plans to revitalize a state commission that would allow California officials to work on issues with their counterparts in Mexican government. And over the course of his first term, Newsom and state Democrats are expected to refocus attention on what they consider the real issues at the heart of the U.S.-Mexico relationship: tackling cross-border pollution, promoting cultural and educational exchanges, and defending the human rights of all immigrants. In a state where Latino elected officials have helped launch a full-scale resistance to the Trump administration, top California leaders say they see a powerful ally in the states new chief executive. They believe Newsoms more forceful stance on immigration and diplomatic approach to Mexico could help reinvigorate old ties and usher in an era of stronger collaboration, providing a viable alternative to the White Houses approach to relations there and around the world. The relationship between Mexico and California is not only a political relationship, said Jeronimo Cortina, associate professor of political science at the University of Houston. You have commerce, you have tourism, you have trade. Regardless of what the federal government is doing, as a governor you dont want to lose that relationship. Advertisement But whether the state can move beyond the symbolic wins to become an effective model for how to improve and maintain those ties depends on whether Newsom is able to deliver on his promises. Weeks before he took office, Newsom attended the inauguration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, where he first pledged to open a trade office in Mexico City. He and his staffers have not yet released details on the plan or efforts to revive a Commission of the Californias, saying only that it will allow a state delegation and members of the Mexican government to work together on areas of economic, political and cultural concern. Though most economic, foreign and border policy falls under the purview of the federal government, a governor can lead trade missions abroad, promote investment into state businesses and build alliances with government officials to elevate the states priorities on an international stage. Two years ago, former Gov. Jerry Brown assumed the role of Americas unofficial ambassador on climate change, touring China to meet with business leaders and executives just after Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord. In Mexico, in 2014, Brown signed memorandums of understanding to develop joint task forces and explore other ways to cooperate in battling wildfires, improving data on air quality and reducing greenhouse emissions. State lawmakers say Newsom will be key in renegotiating those agreements, which are due to expire soon, and lauded the governors promise to reopen the Mexico City trade office, saying it could expand trade deals, loan agreements and technical assistance in manufacturing, alternative energy, technology and other areas. But similar proposals for such a state-funded office were twice rejected by Brown, who pointed to existing agreements between California and Mexican officials, saying he remained unconvinced the state needed it. Similar foreign offices closed in 2003 amid a recession and criticism from legislators and trade experts who said they doubled services and were ineffective. Michael Flores, the states secretary of foreign affairs under Gov. Gray Davis, unsuccessfully fought to keep the Mexico office open and contested the claims. You got to have dialogue, you have to have diplomacy, you have to be talking, he said. If not, there is a vacuum filled with something else the Washington rhetoric. Advertisement Texas was Obamas chief antagonist. In Trumps America, California is eager for the part The U.S.-Mexico border barrier stands on a hillside in Tijuana, Mexico. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Injecting new energy into the cross-border relationship could be a way to heal divisive rhetoric coming from the Trump administration, state lawmakers and political analysts said. But for California, it isnt just a matter of principles, its economics. Newsoms approach is more persistence of past [state] policies than resistance to [federal] policies now, said Tomas Jimenez, associate professor of sociology at Stanford University. Mexico is one of the states top trading partners, exporting roughly $26 billion in goods and importing another $46 billion just last year, according to the state Chamber of Commerce. Latino purchasing power has grown to $320 billion since 1990, one Latino advocacy group found, and the state is home to the largest number of immigrants most of whom are here legally including 4.2 million people born in Mexico, more than 35% of the United States Mexican-born population, according to census data and the Public Policy Institute of California. Advertisement Against that backdrop, it was Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) and former state Senate leader Kevin de Leon who first began to chart the states course in confronting Washington, releasing a joint statement the day after the 2016 presidential election declaring California the new keeper of the nations future. As leaders of a state that is now home to the worlds fifth-largest economy, they pledged to defend Californias progressive strides in historic diversity, scientific advancement, economic output, and sense of global responsibility. And as Latinos and representatives of immigrant-dense Los Angeles communities, they began reaching out to Mexican leaders and passed legislation designed to counter the presidents call for mass deportations. In court, they found an ally in Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, a former congressman and the son of Mexican immigrants, and Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who challenged Trumps unproven claims of widespread voter fraud and moves to change to the U.S. Census, which they say threaten to significantly undercount the states immigrant population. While Trump has said tolerance for illegal immigration is cruel and the source of a border crisis, Newsom has dismissed those characterizations as comedy and the theater of the absurd. Advertisement He walked on stage at his inauguration just after the music group Los Cenzontles serenaded the crowd with Mexican melodies and his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, read a poem in both English and Spanish by former U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera. The governor has since promised to expand state-funded healthcare to more young immigrants who are in the country illegally and earmarked millions for nonprofit groups assisting asylum seekers in San Diego. Last week, he ordered the withdrawal of most California National Guard members from the border, realigning the priorities of those left behind to ensure they do not enforce immigration laws. Not all have praised the efforts. State Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Temecula) called the overall tone of last weeks State of the State address disappointing, saying Newsom seemed more interested in picking a public fight with President Trump than addressing the needs of working California citizens. To call the Presidents actions to curtail illegal immigration political theater is an insult to the millions of legal immigrants who came into this country legally and work hard every day to make California a better place, Stone said in a written statement. Advertisement But others said Newsom was making a smart investment in a young and growing population of Latinos, whose numbers will boost Californias political and purchasing power and serve as an influential voter base. California and Mexico previously experienced turbulent relations in the 1980s and 1990s, when the state was a wellspring of anti-immigrant rhetoric and measures. Television campaign ads for statewide candidates played on voters anxieties over race and called for increased border security, using images of immigrants streaming across the border from Mexico. The relationship between the state and its southern neighbor didnt begin to improve until the early 2000s under Gov. Gray Davis, who appointed Flores to serve as a liaison with Mexico. Wed hear, No, no, Pete Wilson until they realized Davis wasnt Wilson, Flores said, calling the Davis administrations early overtures to Mexican officials difficult. Advertisement Under Davis, Mexican Presidents Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox made unprecedented visits to California, the state expanded a Mexico City trade office and Sacramento hosted a border governors conference in 2000, with members of U.S. and Mexican states. But the office closed three years later amid a recession and allegations that it took too much credit for deals other partners helped facilitate. Over the next two decades, state legislators said, relations between California and Mexico though haphazardly organized remained strong as an increasingly diverse Legislature took office. Many members, some of whom began their political involvement in activism against the anti-immigrant ballot initiatives of the 90s, took on a new focus: establishing protections for immigrants in the country illegally. Later, as efforts to overhaul the nations immigration laws collapsed in Congress under the Obama administration, state lawmakers pushed Brown to work more closely with Mexican partners and sign laws to provide access to drivers licenses, offer college tuition assistance for immigrants without legal status and put distance between immigration enforcement agencies and state and local law enforcement. California to sue Trump administration over national emergency declaration Advertisement Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks after a January meeting with city leaders about providing relief and humanitarian aid to asylum seekers in San Diego. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) After Trumps election, Brown took a more aggressive stance to defend immigrants without legal status, signing proposals to expand previous laws on immigration enforcement and fund legal services. But he was circumspect in his speech and actions. Some lawmakers say their Mexican counterparts have started in the Trump era to echo the same concerns once heard under Wilson. We spend more time than we need to with our peers across the border trying to convince them, Its not us, its not us, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said. Advertisement With a new federal administration in Mexico, some lawmakers say they believe Newsom will do more to open lines of communication. The governor is extremely influential in this discourse, state Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) said. What resources and time and attention he plans to apply to this is going to be very important. Its going to be interesting for us to see and also send a message internationally about what this governors feelings are toward Mexico. Rendon, legislators in his chamber and others including Mexican Consul General Liliana Ferrer already have been working on the California-Mexico Strategic Dialogue initiative to develop the working relationship among officials. In April, members will take on cross-border pollution, including cleaning up sewage and waste in the Tijuana River near San Diego and the New River, which cuts through Imperial County. I wanted to make sure we went beyond the grip-and-grin meetings that didnt have any impact on policy, Rendon said. It initially had nothing to do with Trump, he said, but the state has filled the vacuum. Advertisement Gavin Newsom has been more antagonistic to Trump than Jerry Brown was. And hes just getting started In State of the Union response, Becerra warns legal action if Trump seeks national emergency for border wall California versus Trump became an instant rallying cry. But resistance has been more complicated A top advisor to President Trump indicated Sunday that Trump is prepared to issue the first veto of his term if Congress votes to disapprove of his declaration of a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border. White House senior advisor Stephen Miller told Fox News Sunday that the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration. Asked whether that meant Trump was ready to veto, Miller added, Hes going to protect his national emergency declaration, guaranteed. Trump declared the emergency Friday in an effort to go around Congress to fund his border wall. It would allow him to move federal dollars earmarked for military construction to the border but the move is already facing legal and political challenges. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra told ABCs This Week that his state would sue imminently to block the order, after the American Civil Liberties Union and the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen announced Friday that they were taking legal action. Advertisement California to sue Trump administration over national emergency declaration Democrats are planning to introduce a resolution disapproving of the declaration once Congress returns to session and it is likely to pass Congress. Several Republican senators are already indicating they would vote against Trump though there do not yet appear to be enough votes to override a veto by the president. The White Houses Miller insisted that Congress granted the president wide berth under the National Emergencies Act to take action. But Trumps declaration goes beyond previous emergencies in shifting money after Congress blocked his funding request for the wall, which will likely factor in legal challenges. Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told CBS Face the Nation that he believes Congress needs to act to defend its powers of the purse. I do think that we should not set the terrible precedent of letting a president declare a national emergency simply as a way of getting around the congressional appropriations process, he said. Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told ABC that he believes there are enough GOP votes to prevent the supermajorities required to override a veto. I think there are plenty of votes in the House to make sure that theres no override of the presidents veto, he said. So its going to be settled in court. Well have to wait and see. Persuading North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons will be a long and grueling process that will require President Trump to make significant concessions and even then, the effort may fail. That dose of caution from Trumps special envoy to North Korea, delivered as the two leaders prepare for their second summit, may sound like common sense. But its an important and welcome shift in the White House approach. It means the mood swings of the past, from little rocket man to supposed love letters, may be over and detailed negotiations can now begin. Even Trump may have caught the normalcy bug. After his first summit with Kim last June, he boasted incorrectly that North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat. Eight months later, Kim has yet to dismantle any part of his nuclear arsenal. Advertisement The president sounds more realistic now. Decent chance of denuclearization, he tweeted last month. That chastened tone reflects White House frustration. After the splashy summit in Singapore, when Trump urged Kim to transform his country into a paradise of beach resorts, U.S. officials pushed for rapid denuclearization talks. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo pressed Pyongyang for a complete list of its nuclear facilities, including secret sites, as a first step. Kims aides rejected the request out of hand. The talks went into a freeze and needed months to get back on track. They started out by asking for everything, as you always do in negotiations, Joel S. Wit, a former U.S. diplomat who negotiated with North Korea in the 1990s, told me. Now its about give and take. Thats a change in the right direction. The change is being led by the new U.S. envoy, Stephen E. Biegun, a low-key, methodical negotiator who was a National Security Council aide to President George W. Bush. In a recent speech at Stanford University, Biegun laid out the elements of a strategy that many Korea experts praised as smart and flexible. He said the Trump administration is still pursuing the goal of a complete and verifiable end to North Koreas nuclear weapons program. But the U.S. side is no longer demanding a full accounting of Pyongyangs facilities as a first step, Biegun said. The only realistic way to achieve denuclearization, he said, is through gradual, confidence-building measures on both sides including some from the United States, to see if we can change the trajectory of their policies by changing the trajectory of our own. Advertisement That will include efforts to reassure Kim Jong Un that the United States is not a threat to his regime even though the two countries are still technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice but no peace treaty. President Trump is ready to end this war, Biegun said. It is over. It is done. We are not going to invade North Korea. We are not seeking to topple the North Korean regime. Importantly, Biegun said its time to move the talks from noisy televised summits to quiet meetings between lower-level diplomats. That may not sound like much, but the two countries havent managed it so far and diplomats say its the only way the effort can succeed. North Korea has signaled it may be willing to move forward. Advertisement After testing an intercontinental ballistic missile and its most powerful nuclear bomb yet in Trumps first year in office, Pyongyang hasnt conducted another test since late 2017. And on New Years Day, Kim said in a speech that the testing freeze is intended to be permanent. Pyongyang isnt disarming yet. The regime is still producing nuclear weapons material, according to U.S. intelligence; it wants to keep its arsenal as a deterrent against attacks. Thats why North Korea refused to provide a list of nuclear facilities; it didnt want the U.S. Air Force to know where they are. Because of the mutual suspicion, researchers at Stanford have estimated that denuclearization will take at least 10 years even if negotiations are successful. Advertisement The next opportunity to move forward will be the Hanoi summit, scheduled for Feb. 27-28. Trump has told the North Koreans that he wants actions that are bold and real, Biegun said. That might include steps to dismantle Pyongyangs long-range ballistic missiles, the most direct threat to the United States, and for international inspections of nuclear sites North Korea says it has closed. In return, Trump may declare that the U.S. considers the Korean War over not a formal peace treaty, which could take years to conclude, but a simple promise not to attack. Kim will want economic sanctions eased. Trump is unlikely to lift any U.S. sanctions but could support a move to allow South Korea to launch joint economic projects with the north. Advertisement Less eye-catching but equally important would be agreement on a roadmap for lower-level working groups to outline the next steps and the ones after that. That would mean the two countries are finally getting to work on the boring but essential details of step-by-step disarmament. Trump will be tempted, as always, to claim spectacular results. But the real accomplishments of the summit, if any, are likely to lie in those seemingly mundane details. The Antiquities Repatriation Department at Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has succeeded in recovering an anthropoid gilded coffin of Nedjemankh, priest of the ram-god Heryshef, previously smuggled out of the country. The coffin was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in New York through an antiquities trader who held a 1971 Egyptian export license. Shaaban Abdel Gawad, supervisor general of Egypts Antiquities Repatriation Department, said that investigations undertaken by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office lasted for around 20 months, during which Egypt submitted evidence of ownership and that the export license of the trader was fake. Before the promulgation of Antiquities Protection Law No 117 of 1983, Egyptian law allowed the export of some artefacts. In the wake of the Manhattan District Attorney investigation, the Met learned that it received a false ownership history when it purchased the gilded coffin, along with fraudulent statements and fake documentation, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license. The Manhattan District Attorney upheld Egypts ownership of the coffin and directed that it should be returned to its homeland. The Met's president and CEO, Daniel Weiss, told The New York Times: After we learned that the museum was a victim of fraud and unwittingly participated in the illegal trade of antiquities, we worked with the DAs office for its return to Egypt. The nation of Egypt has been a strong partner of the museums for over a century. Abdel Gawad pointed out that the museums president also sent yesterday the museums apologies to Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany, and to Egyptians. Upon arrival to Egypt the coffin will be put on display temporarily at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square and then will be taken to the Grand Egyptian Museum as part of its permanent collection on its official opening in 2020. The coffin is carved in wood and covered with a layer of gold inscribed for Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of Heryshef of Herakleopolis. The elaborately decorated surface includes scenes and texts in thick gesso relief that were intended to protect and guide Nedjemankh on his journey from death to eternal life as a transfigured spirit. The Ministry of Antiquities thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Egyptian security and juridical authorities as well as members of the National Committee for Antiquities Repatriation for their efforts in recovering the coffin, as well as the Manhattan District Attorneys Office and the Metropolitan Museum for their cooperation. Short link: Shadow Lantry(TAMPA, Fla.) -- For once, police were thankful a group of criminals broke into a car. A group of inmates on work duty in New Port Richey, Florida, came to the rescue of a forgetful father who accidentally locked his keys -- and, more importantly, his 1-year-old baby -- in his truck earlier this week. Five prisoners, along with deputies from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, were working to repair medians outside the West Pasco Judicial Center on Thursday when they saw the father begin to panic and a crowd gather around the locked car. An onlooker provided the inmates with a wire hanger and they went to work. "[We were] surprised when somebody had a wire coat hanger, [and] we were able to get the door open enough to get it in there, unlock the door," Richard Stanger, from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, told Tampa ABC affiliate WFTS. The inmates were described as "low-risk offenders." "A lot of them, like these individuals, they know they made bad mistakes, bad choices, but they want to do the right thing in life," Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said. In a cellphone video shot by the truck's owner, deputies can be heard telling the dad to "pop his head in the window" every once in a while, so the baby doesn't get scared by all the "strange faces." It took about two minutes for them to pop the lock -- and trigger the car alarm -- in order to get the baby out of the truck. The victory triggered celebration by those who had crowded around the vehicle. Luckily it was a fairly cool day in the Tampa area with a high of 72 degrees on Thursday. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Jenny and Robert Brooks are ready to get the 2020 election season started. Sitting in the audience waiting to see Kamala Harris address her first South Carolina town hall, they spoke of how very ready they are to beat President Trump. Only problem is theyre not sure what kind of candidate it will take to do it. Im conflicted. I pretty much support more liberal people like Kamala Harris, but weve got to get someone elected, Jenny, a speech therapist, said Friday at Harris town hall in Charleston. She and Robert, who live in a nearby suburb, supported Bernie Sanders in 2016. But now, Robert explained, I hope its someone in the middle. Advertisement Such was the test Harris faced as she embarked on a two-day jaunt through South Carolina, visiting barbecue joints and minority-owned boutiques in addition to hosting two widely attended town halls. While Harris is considered in the top tier of a crowded Democratic field, voters in this key state are still weighing whether she or one of her many competitors will be the best to take on Trump. Were desperate, one audience member in Columbia said about the desire to find a candidate who could beat Trump. The crowd at the Saturday town hall laughed, cheered and stood in agreement, as the questioner pressed Harris on what would set her apart from other contenders. Heres what I offer, Harris replied. I think this is a moment in time for us to have people with the courage to speak truth and have a demonstrated ability to fight for justice. I believe this is a moment in time where we need fighters on the stage who know how to fight I do. South Carolina holds the nations third presidential nominating contest, and its voters will be pivotal to Harris White House ambitions. While sticking largely to the broad themes she has laid out in her first month as a candidate, Harris tailored her message to include local issues. Sen. Kamala Harris addresses the crowd during a town hall Saturday in Columbia, S.C. (Logan Cyrus / For The Times) Advocating for smart gun laws, for example, she immediately called for the closing of the Charleston loophole, which enabled white supremacist Dylann Roof to buy a gun after a three-day waiting period even though a FBI background check had not been completed. He went on to kill nine people at Charlestons Mother Emanuel AME church in 2015. A bill to extend the waiting period to 10 days advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week. Her emphasis on climate change as an existential threat included a reference to the debate over off-shore oil drilling, which many of the states coastal communities oppose in defiance of the Trump administration, which has sought to expand the practice. You guys are going to see so much of me here, youre going to be sick of me by the end of it, Harris promised her audience in Columbia, as the crowd clapped in approval. Advertisement Old, young, liberal, centrist: Democrats will have no end of choices for president in 2020 Some South Carolinians, such as Ezzell Pittman, a travel agent from Columbia, were drawn in after watching her performance at a town hall televised by CNN last month, where the California senator touted her support for a Medicare for All healthcare system. Pittman said the concept of universal system appealed to him, but he wanted Harris to explain her plan further. How is she going to implement it? he asked. Harris did not offer many details, although she did speak of the benefit of having a national health plan to negotiate prescription drug prices with insurers. Rather, she framed her support for sweeping government initiatives, such as Medicare for All and the climate change-focused Green New Deal, as holding great potential for return on investment of federal dollars. Advertisement Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, has been endorsed by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), labor organizer Dolores Huerta and Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Logan Cyrus / For The Times) Some people will have you believe, in particular our opponents will have you believe, its all about doling out the money. Just doling it out, Harris said. No its about an investment. She made some smaller investments of her own in the local economy, dining at a famed Charleston barbecue restaurant and purchasing a sequined multicolor jacket at a Columbia clothing shop, explaining it could be a good choice for upcoming gay pride celebrations. While Harris barnstormed South Carolina, her campaign was touting a trio of high-profile California endorsements. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), labor organizer Dolores Huerta and California Gov. Gavin Newsom all announced their support for Harris candidacy at the close of the week. To the editor: Maria Shrivers Feb. 11 op-ed article reiterates Californias unpreparedness to face Alzheimers disease as an urgent public health issue. A new bill in the Assembly, AB 388, introduced by Assemblywoman Monique Limon (D-Santa Barbara), would have the state adopt a public-health approach to improve outcomes and reduce costs. It would create the first statewide Alzheimers public awareness campaign and fund grants to local public health departments to explore community-based innovations. Combined with Gov. Gavin Newsoms proposal of $3 million for Alzheimers research, this one-time investment would total $13 million and save us billions down the line. Limon and the bills co-authors, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), are paving the way for California to move from unprepared to national leadership on Alzheimers prevention and preparedness. Advertisement Jackie Kouri, Pacific Palisades The writer is board chairwoman of the Alzheimers Assn. California Southland Chapter. .. To the editor: Alzheimers disease effectively destroys peoples brains. It is terrifying that 1 in 10 Americans over age 65, and 1 in 3 over 85, are living with the disease. Shriver is pleased that people want to understand more about Alzheimers. Better yet, how about a means possibly to prevent it? I believe there is a way. The clue is from the senior poker group I founded about 30 years ago. We have more than 200 members, and to the best of my knowledge not a single person has developed Alzheimers. True, this is anecdotal evidence. Perhaps a more extensive study is warranted. George Epstein, Los Angeles Advertisement .. To the editor: Shriver points out how unprepared California is to face its coming dementia epidemic. She notes that in his 2019-20 budget, Newsom has allocated $3 million to support research meant to foster a better understanding of Alzheimers. In the same print edition of the L.A.Times, it was reported that Newsom also called for $25 million for nonprofits that provide services to asylum seekers. He has also embraced other efforts to help immigrants in the country without permission, including an expansion of Medi-Cal eligibility for undocumented young adults at a cost some have pegged at about $250 million per year. Newsom should revisit his priorities. Advertisement M.L. Griswold, Canyon Lake, Calif. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook With President Trump publicly denouncing the turmoil in Venezuela last week, the United States is inching further toward a showdown with President Nicolas Maduros regime. Its a confrontation the Trump administration cannot afford to lose. The Maduro regime is financing chaos and corruption throughout the Americas. Its civilian and military leaders are suspected of looting $300 billion in oil revenue. Some 15 to 20 tons of cocaine are moving to the U.S. from Venezuela every month, according to U.S. officials, much of it controlled by Venezuelan government and military officials. This organized-crime spree is destabilizing the region and fueling illegal migration, including at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump administration has surprised critics by working in concert with dozens of other governments to find a constitutional and democratic solution to the crisis. Since early in his term, Trumps team at the Treasury Department has used financial sanctions to freeze at least $2 billion in the hands of corrupt Venezuelan leaders, amassed from embezzlement and narcotics trafficking. In late January, the Treasury Department prohibited Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuelas state-owned oil company, from sending profits back home. Governments that have committed to restoring democratic order in Venezuela must complete this urgent mission. Advertisement These sanctions will hurt the regimes ability to pay off its supporters. But to truly stop Maduro and his cronies, the Trump administration must do more. Maduro is holding on to power through corruption, blackmail, ruthless repression and assistance from other states. Cuban advisors have micromanaged the destruction of the private economy and creation of a police state backed by armed gangs. Russian weapons and Chinese financing bolster the regimes anti-democratic agenda. Colombian narco-terrorists and Hezbollah operate in Venezuela with the regimes complicity. More than 50 nations, including the U.S. and key Latin American countries, consider Maduro illegitimate because of a largely rigged election he staged last May. Instead, these countries recognize Venezuelas only democratically elected institution, the National Assembly, as the legitimate representative of the Venezuelan people. Last month, the Assemblys presiding officer, Juan Guaido, assumed the powers of interim president of the republic, responsible for organizing free elections to choose a successor. He has rallied massive street demonstrations calling on Maduro to yield power. Guaido has also called on the international community to provide humanitarian aid to millions of Venezuelans who are barely surviving in the collapsed economy. Millions more are pouring into Colombia, Brazil and other countries in search of food, medicine, jobs and security. Maduro is blocking international aid from reaching desperate people, closing a major bridge on the Colombian border and deploying paramilitary groups to impose his will. Trump warned last month that all options are on the table, but a U.S. invasion appears unlikely. U.S. officials are expecting that Venezuelas army, enticed by an offer of amnesty, could rebel against Maduro to restore constitutional order. Emboldened by strong U.S. support for Guaido, the internal opposition has been coaxing members of the military to oust the Maduro regime. But hurdles remain. Last year, after the regime discovered that some military officers were organizing a rebellion, the plotters were jailed and tortured to set an example. The international community, and especially the U.S., must ratchet up pressure on the regime and convince powerful military commanders of Maduros demise. Advertisement Maduro has been under U.S. investigation for drug trafficking and money laundering for years, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, and his key henchmen, Vice President Tareck El Aissami and Diosdado Cabello, a top figure in Maduros party. American prosecutors should be encouraged to issue or unseal indictments of these individuals and offer significant monetary rewards for their capture. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute Moreover, the regimes income from drug trafficking and other sources can be choked off by ramping up U.S. law enforcement and military assets in the region, together with nearby allies such as Brazil and Colombia. Last Friday, Venezuelas legitimate Supreme Court of Justice, now operating in exile, called upon Guaido to authorize a humanitarian corridor within the country, through which a military coalition and peace mission would be permitted to deliver aid. The U.S. should work with other willing governments to honor this request. Advertisement Finally, the Cuban regime must be held accountable. Governments should demand the expulsion of Cuban advisors from Venezuela and hold Havana responsible for any violence committed by Cuban-trained groups. Raul Castros son-in-law, Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez Callejas, and other conspirators should face penalties and possibly sanctions for aiding and abetting human rights abuses and narco-trafficking in Venezuela. Some 30 million Venezuelans need to be rescued from Maduros lawless regime. Governments that have committed to restoring democratic order in Venezuela must complete this urgent mission. Roger F. Noriega is a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States and a former assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook. We found her in a ditch a few steps away from the rusted border fence on the east side of Nogales, Ariz., an inch-and-a-half laceration on her swollen forehead. She came from Guerrero, one of the most violent states in Mexico, and could not remember how she landed on the rugged surface after her grip on the top of the barrier failed and she fell. Six firefighters carried her to the ambulance, which took her to a helicopter bound for the regional trauma center in Tucson. Captain Lopez recorded the incident in the logbook when we returned to the firehouse: 1107 Medic 2, Engine 2: Dead End Freeport Jumper/Head Injury. This was two lines below an entry logged earlier that morning, for a teenage boy who had come down with a 102-degree fever while locked in a cell at the Border Patrol station after agents apprehended him in the desert: 0951 Medic 2: 1500 West La Quinta Rd High Fever. Emergency responders are the first on the scene in any life-threatening situation: car accidents, drug overdoses, heart attacks, shootings. In the southern United States, the list of routine trauma scenarios includes border-related injuries. For more than a year, while I was volunteering as an EMT and paramedic in Arizona, I witnessed ambulances pick up wounded border crossers so frequently that some of my peers were casually referring to the cement ledge abutting the fence as the ankle alley. Advertisement Such reinforcements dont contribute to national security. Instead, they erode the foundations of public safety in communities on both sides of the border. From EMTs to emergency room doctors, medical professionals see firsthand how, as the design of the barrier changes, so do the patterns of injury: While the previous, shorter fence, built in the 1990s and made of sharp corrugated sheet metal, amputated the fingers of those who tried to scale it, the current 20-foot-tall bollard barrier causes orthopedic fractures and multi-system trauma. Emergency responders also see that, no matter its design, the fence does not deter unauthorized migrants. Even more often than ambulances are dispatched to the ankle alley, they are sent to help those choosing the dangerous journey across what the Border Patrol calls hostile terrain, where enforcement is outsourced to the extreme environment. Migrants rescued in the desert are often severely dehydrated and face a life with permanent kidney damage. Lucky ones, nevertheless: In the last two decades, more than 7,000 people have died crossing the increasingly militarized Southwest border region, some of them from head trauma suffered when they fell off the fence in Nogales. The border fence, now enhanced by spools of concertina wire, is a key component of tactical infrastructure, a term Customs and Border Protection uses to refer to the assemblage of materials and technologies that regulate movement in the name of national security. CBP doesnt have metrics to assess whether fencing contributes to their border enforcement operations, as the Government Accountability Office noted in a report released last year. The ineffectiveness of current fences has nothing to do with their size or their length. Barriers along the border have doubled in height since the 1990s and now cover nearly 700 miles, or about one-third of the length of the U.S. Southwest border. But they have failed to stop unauthorized migrants or illegal drugs. Still, as we can see from the ongoing debate on border security among lawmakers, there are no plans to abandon this brutal and ineffective enforcement strategy. The stubborn focus on barriers is shortsighted, and it obscures how the deployment of tactical infrastructure harms and threatens the safety of communities that straddle the international boundary, such as Nogales. The same emergency responders who splint broken legs and give IV fluids to wounded border crossers depend on partnerships with fire departments in Mexico. Wildfires and flash floods, air pollution and toxic spills spread from one country to another without regard for borders. Walls dont stop them. Advertisement Arizona is downhill, downwind and downstream from the Mexican state of Sonora. Towns on both sides have their public utilities and transportation systems intermeshed. In Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Sonora together known as Ambos Nogales an arroyo and a sewage pipeline cross the border through a drainage tunnel underneath the port of entry, where residents line up for passport control steps away from railcars carrying sulphuric acid. Aware of this intertwining, emergency managers and first responders have developed binational partnerships. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute The U.S. Forest Service and Mexicos National Forestry Commission jointly fight wildfires within 10 miles of the border. Sister cities have mutual aid agreements, which allow them to share resources in cases of emergency on either side. While Americans push fire hoses through the gaps in the fence, supplying their peers in Mexico with water, Mexican volunteers come to the U.S. side to provide manpower in large structure fires and search-and-rescue operations. Such cooperation is more than a century old. It precedes the fence that divides the communities. Building barriers undermines these achievements and imperils border residents. To speed up the construction of the wall after Sept. 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security was authorized to waive more than 30 environmental and other federal laws, including regulations preserving clean air and clean water. Tactical infrastructure, deployed at any human, social or ecological cost, exacerbates the potentially disastrous consequences of natural phenomena. Advertisement We saw it happen a decade ago, when the CBP installed a 5-foot concrete barrier inside the drainage tunnel under Nogales. The barrier formed a bottleneck. With heavy rain, water pressure kept rising, until about 1,000 feet of the tunnel collapsed and inundated the city. Mexican authorities declared the area a disaster zone, citing damage to hundreds of homes, while the CBP recovered two bodies, suspecting the drowned were unauthorized migrants. Despite calls for investigations and reparations, the U.S. governments only concession was an offer to lower the barrier by a foot and a half. Such reinforcements dont contribute to national security. Instead, they erode the foundations of public safety in communities on both sides of the border. As U.S. soldiers added more concertina wire to the fence in Nogales earlier this month, an EMT told me he dreads the day he may be called to help someone entangled in its razor-sharp coils. Ieva Jusionyte is an assistant professor of anthropology and social studies at Harvard University and the author of Threshold: Emergency Responders on the U.S.-Mexico Border. She has volunteered as an emergency medical technician, paramedic and firefighter in Florida, Arizona and Massachusetts. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook By midmorning, a line snaked out the door of AID Atlantas Midtown clinic. It was National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and the waiting room was packed with people a worker in an orange safety vest, a mother cradling a toddler, a man in a navy suit waiting to be tested. Downstairs, Ted Krug, a volunteer with the Georgia AIDS and STI Information Line, picked up the telephone and tried to calm a 54-year-old woman who was panicking because shed had unprotected sex with someone she later learned was bisexual. In her office cubicle, medical case manager Carla McCray checked the time. A client, 22 and without health insurance, had not shown up for his appointment to apply for federal funds for HIV drugs. She called his cellphone to ask what was going on, but got no answer. In his State of the Union address earlier this month, President Trump announced a plan to halt the transmission of HIV in the United States by 2030. But clinics across the country face a knot of obstacles to meeting that target. The problems are most severe in the Southeast, currently the epicenter of the nations HIV epidemic. Advertisement President Trump greets Supreme Court justices on Feb. 5 after his State of the Union address. (Win McNamee / Getty Images) We have the technology, we have the expertise, to prevent HIV and allow those who unfortunately contract it to live healthy and productive lives, said Nicole Roebuck, executive director of AID Atlanta, an agency that has provided HIV/AIDS-related services and care since 1982. But the funding is never enough, and the stigma in the South is still a debilitating factor, especially for people of color. The number of new HIV infections across the United States dropped from about 130,000 in 1985 to 50,000 in 2010, and has plateaued at around 40,000 in recent years. Among intravenous drug users, the infection rate has jumped from 6% to 10% since 2015. While the nations first cases of AIDS were documented in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City in the early 1980s, Southern states now make up 52% of new HIV diagnoses up from 44% in 2014. Miami ranks as the nations top metro area for the rate of new HIV diagnoses, followed by Orlando, Fla., Atlanta, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. Healthcare advocates say the structural and political challenges to combating HIV/AIDS are greater in the rural South, where public transportation systems are lacking and schools are less likely to educate students on prevention options. Laws that criminalize HIV exposure in more than 25 states also may make people reluctant to get tested. In Louisiana, for example, a person living with HIV who knows their status and intentionally exposes another through sexual contact can face 10 years in prison. If the Trump administration is serious about eliminating HIV, many experts say, it must increase federal funding for prevention efforts and reverse several key areas of its healthcare policy, such as efforts to gut the federal Affordable Care Act, oppose the expansion of Medicaid and push abstinence-only sex education. Trumps war on the Affordable Care Act, his policies that would make it harder for people to get on or to stay on Medicaid, work against the first step in controlling the epidemic, said Gregg Gonsalves, assistant professor of epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale School of Public Health. Advertisement If you look at the map of HIV rates and pull up another map of Medicaid expansion states, guess what? he added. Many of the states that didnt extend Medicaid or [that] put work requirements into place are the states that are struggling with HIV. According to Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, the federal government aims to reduce new HIV infections by 75% over five years and 90% in the next decade. The initiative will focus on 48 counties where transmission is high. Trained public health workers will tackle hard-hit geographic hot spots, offering more testing options and drug therapies to at-risk populations such as minorities, and men who have sex with men. It will also target seven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina) where 10% or more of the HIV population lives in rural areas. Carolyn McAllaster, a law professor at Duke University and director of the universitys Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative, said she was thrilled to see officials home in on rural pockets of the Deep South, which traditionally have seen little funding. Advertisement Still, she said, any plan to end HIV has to involve providing comprehensive, equitable healthcare. If we dont expand Medicaid in our Southern states, its going to be very difficult to eradicate HIV, she said. Stopping the virus spread should be achievable, the vast majority of experts agree, because treatment exists: People diagnosed with HIV can undergo antiretroviral therapy that lowers the amount of the virus they carry to almost zero and prevents transmission to partners. People who do not have HIV, but are at substantial risk of contracting it, can prevent infection by taking a daily pill a practice known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. But only about half of HIV-positive people in the U.S. are receiving antiretroviral treatment. And PrEP is expensive. Advertisement Many diagnosed with HIV or those considered at risk face barriers low wages, limited transportation options, unstable housing that compound the challenges of getting care. HIV is an epidemic that is entrenched in poverty and inequality, said Dr. Melanie Thompson, principal investigator at the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta. You cannot separate the inequalities the racism, the homophobia, the transphobia from this epidemic. It drives the epidemic. There is scant federal funding for PrEP. And while the drugs manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, offers an assistance program for patients who cannot afford to pay up to $2,000 a month, many struggle to cover the cost of visiting a doctor or paying for regular lab testing. We can do everything we can to have the services that they need, but the funding is never enough, Roebuck said. People have to make all kinds of choices: Should I pay my rent or should I take my meds? Do I spend $2.50 to travel to the clinic or do I buy a sandwich? Advertisement L.A. County officials launch effort to curb HIV (Los Angeles Times) Medicaid covers the costs for an estimated 40% of those receiving HIV treatment in the United States. According to a 2014 report funded by the drug industry, about 60,000 low-income, uninsured people with HIV/AIDS live in states that did not expand Medicaid under an optional provision of the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare. When Louisiana expanded Medicaid in 2016, many people with HIV found it easier to locate a doctor and seek treatment, said Gina Brown, community engagement manager for the Southern Aids Coalition in New Orleans. Advertisement It opened up choice, she said. While Trump plans to ask Democrats and Republicans to commit to eliminating the HIV epidemic, he did not specify how much money he will request or whether it will come from existing programs or new appropriations. The White House is scheduled to release its annual budget request to Congress next month. Many who run clinics say substantial new funding is needed to reengage the thousands of people who are not getting regular medical care. About 15% of Americans with HIV dont know theyre infected, CDC report says Advertisement We are already stretching beyond our seams, said Dr. Wendy Armstrong, medical director of Grady Health Systems Ponce de Leon Infectious Disease Center in Atlanta. One of the largest HIV-care providers in the U.S., it offers complex care to more than 6,200 patients. The clinic, which focuses on advanced HIV/AIDS, started a rapid-entry program in 2016 to try to provide appointments and start patients on drugs within 72 hours and ideally within the same day. But soon staffers were inundated with hundreds of new patients and had to shut down the program. They recently restarted it but are struggling to cope, with just 15 full-time physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Dr. Hansel Tookes of the University of Miamis Miller School of Medicine has spent the last few years pioneering Floridas first syringe-exchange program, which swaps fresh needles for drug users old ones. But he is still working to persuade Florida legislators to expand the program. People who inject drugs thats where the emerging challenge is, he said. But the South lags behind. Advertisement Ultimately, many care providers say social stigma remains the trickiest hurdle to ending the HIV epidemic. Were still not talking about sex in Mississippi, said Deja Abdul-Haqq, director of organizational development at My Brothers Keeper in Jackson, which founded the first LGBTQ heath center in the state. Were not talking about it in the Legislature, were not talking about it in the schools and were not talking about it in the church, she said. In order to talk about HIV, you have to talk about sex. jenny.jarvie@latimes.com Advertisement @jennyjarvie Patrick Caddell, the pollster who helped propel Jimmy Carter in his longshot bid to win the presidency and later distanced himself from Democrats, has died, a colleague said Saturday night. Caddell was 68. Caddell died Saturday in Charleston, S.C., after suffering a stroke. Thats according to Kendra Stewart, a professor of political science at the College of Charleston, who confirmed the death to The Associated Press. After working with Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s, Caddell eventually drifted away from the Democratic Party and began advising supporters of Republican Donald Trump, including a close relationship with former Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon, and was a contributor to Fox News for a time. Caddell worked for 1972 Democratic nominee George McGovern, then joined with Carter in the mid-1970s to develop a campaign strategy to overcome the cynicism spawned by the Vietnam War and Watergate. In an oral history for the University of Virginias Miller Center, Caddell said Carters best bet was to present himself as an outsider who could help heal the country. Advertisement As a student at Harvard, Caddell had studied Southern politics and was helpful to Carter and his close advisers as they studied how to maneuver their campaign between the competing forces of the McGovern liberals and supporters of conservative firebrand George Wallace. Caddell, a native of Rock Hill, S.C., and the Georgia governor found they had many ideas in common about how he could win the presidency. As a one-term governor from the South, Carter would have to offer a compelling outsider theme. In order to win, he had to articulate a sense of what had happened to the country through Vietnam and Watergate. If you go back and look at those speeches that he gave early in the campaign, he would talk about the damage to the country, its psychology, Caddell said in the oral history. Essentially, what he was running on in the campaign was that the country had been psychologically devastated by the previous decade of events. He was offering himself as a healer... W. Wilson Goode and wife Velma smile as they react to the news on television of a heavy black voter turn out in west Philadelphia in the Democratic primary election at the Philadelphia Centre Hotel on May 17, 1983. Patrick Caddell is on the right. (George Widman / Associated Press) Carter won the presidency, but Caddell, known for a time for his bushy black beard with a gray streak, preferred to advise the president from outside the White House. Caddell warned Carter of the dangers of getting out of touch with the voters who had embraced him during the campaign. But one bit of Caddell advice seemed to backfire. Caddell wrote a memo warning of crisis of confidence that Americans were experiencing and urged Carter to address them directly about it. That became known as the malaise speech, though Carter never used that word. He lost re-election a year later, in a bid complicated by economic fears, an intraparty challenge and the Iran hostage situation. The winner, Ronald Reagan, offered an optimistic vision of the country. Advertisement Caddell consulted with other Democratic presidential candidates in the 1980s and was a close adviser to Joe Biden during his failed 1988 bid for the presidency. In explaining his break from Democrats, Caddell said he thought the party was no longer a party of the people but had been hijacked by elites, the well-educated, Wall Street and interest groups. He noted in a 2016 speech to students at Michigans Hillsdale College that he was offended when the Democrats at their national convention would not allow Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey Sr., who was against abortion, to deliver a convention speech. Caddell considered the Democrats to be guilty of the stifling of dissent. And he commended Trump for reaching out to people the Democrats were not effective in reaching, and his willingness to take on the political class. Advertisement Stewart said Caddell died early Saturday at the hospital and had not been ill, so it was a surprise to those who knew him. Among his many projects, he was a guest lecturer at the College of Charleston and the Citadel, she said. After escaping Washington, he sought refuge in L.A., where he was a writer and producer on West Wing with Aaron Sorkin and consulted on other films such as Outbreak, Air Force One and In the Line of Fire, Stewart said. These past years he has been consulting, conducting research and writing on the state of voter unrest and dissatisfaction with the political system. I worked with him through his company, Caddell Associates, on many of these projects, Stewart said. He was a passionate man who wanted nothing more than to leave his grandchildren a better country. Lee Radziwill, who parlayed her cachet as the younger sister of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis into a varied career as a fashion tastemaker, interior decorator, actress, princess and grande dame of cafe society on two continents, died Feb. 15 in New York. She was 85. The death was confirmed by Cornelia Guest, a close friend. No other details were available. Brought up amid great wealth in the Bouvier and Auchincloss families, Radziwill was raised with her sister in mansions along the East Coast. Though she famously floundered as an actress, her adventurous spirit, sophisticated looks, husky voice and glamorous association with the Kennedy White House put her on magazine covers and televisions while opening doors to royal palaces, gala soirees, torrid romances and touchstone events of the 1960s and 70s. Advertisement She obtained the title of princess after exchanging vows with an exiled Polish nobleman, her second of three husbands, but her most enduring influence was as a queen of style. Even before her sister, whod married John F. Kennedy, became first lady in 1961, the fashion press had taken note of Radziwills chic looks that often featured clean lines, oversize sunglasses and free-flowing hair. Vogue magazine credited her with helping U.S. fashion transition from the stodgy elegance of the 1950s to a more relaxed and confident style. She worked as an assistant to longtime Harpers Bazaar editor Diana Vreeland, ran the American fashion pavilion at the 1958 Worlds Fair and inspired designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Marc Jacobs. Writer Truman Capote said she outshone her more-famous sister. Shes all the things people give Jackie credit for, he told People magazine in 1976. All the looks, style, taste Jackie never had them at all, and yet it was Lee who lived in the shadow. Gossip columnists and books, including Diana DuBois 1995 unauthorized biography In Her Sisters Shadow: An Intimate Biography of Lee Radziwill, insisted she was forever jealous of her internationally revered sibling. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with Lee Radziwill at a horse farm in Britain in November 1968. (Evening Standard / Getty Images) DuBois even said Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who married Jacqueline after President Kennedy was assassinated, was originally Radziwills conquest until the day in 1963 when she invited her sister along to sail on his yacht. Onassis was dynamic, irrational cruel, I suppose but fascinating, she told the New York Times in 2013. He also had the most beautiful skin, and smelled wonderful. Naturally, I mean. Fascinating ... as my sister discovered! Radziwill always denied a rivalry. During the Kennedy administration, the two sisters were confidants and traveling companions. They dined at Buckingham Palace and toured India, riding elephants and hobnobbing with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Radziwill spent much of the Cuban missile crisis holed up in the White House with Jacqueline and watching the president exchange tense phone calls with aides. Advertisement I cant deny those few years were glamorous, being on the presidential yacht for the Americas Cup races, the parties with the White House en fete. It was so ravishing, she told the Times. By the time of Kennedys assassination in November 1963, she was an A-list socialite in her own right and often called Princess Radziwill thanks to her marriage in 1959 to Prince Stanislas Albert Stash Radziwill, who had fled Poland after World War II to become a London real estate developer. She danced at Capotes legendary Black and White masquerade ball in 1966, sometimes called the party of the century, and joined other celebrity hangers-on during the Rolling Stones infamously debauched 1972 U.S. tour. Lead guitarist Keith Richards, who was unimpressed, dubbed her Princess Radish. Always restless, Radziwill, as People magazine put it, tried on careers like so many Halstons. Advertisement With Capote providing acting tips and Saint Laurent a rack of dresses, Radziwill debuted in a 1967 Chicago stage production of The Philadelphia Story. She played snooty socialite Tracy Lord, a role made famous by Katharine Hepburn, but critics panned her performance as stilted. A star is not born, one reviewer noted. None of this dimmed Radziwills allure in high society. Her pencil-thin physique, long neck and elongated mouth graced magazine covers and photographs by Richard Avedon. Another friend, Andy Warhol, captured her elegance in an orange silk-screen portrait. Her closest friend was Russian ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev, and she was romantically linked to other dashing men of the era, including architect Richard Meier and photographer and artist Peter Beard. In 1976, she set up an interior decorating business in New York with a contract to design suites for Americana Hotels. She also worked as an event planner and style counselor to Giorgio Armani and was a fixture on the cocktail-party and fashion-show circuits of London, Paris and New York. Even into her 80s, Radziwill was making best-dressed lists while her expensively outfitted apartments were featured in architecture and design magazines. For more than a half-century, she was a central figure in the comings and goings of high society, Vogue magazine wrote in a 2014 tribute. A story about the frivolity of the 20th century should obligatorily dedicate at least one full chapter and numerous scattered mentions to Lee Radziwill. Advertisement Radziwill was born Caroline Lee Bouvier in New York on March 3, 1933. Her father, John Black Jack Bouvier III, was a wealthy stockbroker notorious for womanizing and heavy drinking. Her mother, Janet Norton Lee, hailed from a prominent Southern family. Lee Radziwill Ross and half-brother Jamie Auchincloss in New York in May 1994. (Rosario Esposito / Associated Press) After divorcing, her mother remarried in 1942 to Washington businessman and Standard Oil heir Hugh Auchincloss Jr., stepfather of author Gore Vidal. The Bouvier sisters, raised in large part by governesses, attended the private Miss Porters School in Farmington, Conn. Unhappy after her parents divorce, the future princess said she grew so lonely that at age 11 she tried to adopt an orphan. Advertisement She said her parents doted on Jacqueline, who was four years older, a bookworm and a better equestrian, while Lee, who was once thrown from a horse and trampled, was afraid of the animals. My mother endlessly told me I was too fat, that I wasnt a patch on my sister, she told the Times. But, like her sister, Lee was considered a classic beauty and named debutante of the year by the Hearst newspaper chain. She enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College north of New York City after her 1950 graduation from Miss Porters, but, professing a strong dislike for academics, left after her sophomore year to study art in Italy. Her first marriage, to Michael Canfield, son of book publishing executive Cass Canfield, collapsed in part because of his reported heavy drinking and her burgeoning relationship with future husband Prince Radziwill. The Radziwills would divorce in 1974. In 1988, she married film director and choreographer Herbert Ross, later telling the New York Times, He was certainly different from anybody else Id been involved with, and the film world sounded exciting. Well, it wasnt. She also said hed been obsessed with the design tastes of his late wife, ballerina Nora Kaye. Radziwill and Ross divorced in 2001, shortly before his death. Advertisement She had two children with Prince Radziwill. Their son, Emmy Award-winning TV news producer Anthony Radziwill, died of a rare form of cancer in 1999 just weeks after her nephew, John F. Kennedy Jr., with whom she was close, died in a plane crash. Survivors include a daughter, Anna Christina Tina Radziwill. Information on other survivors was not immediately available. Forever linked to the former first lady, Radziwill once told People that she had forged her own identity. Ive been far more successful than I ever imagined, she said. Im nobodys kid sister. A Buena Park man is in custody on suspicion of killing four people in a drunk driving crash in Santa Ana early Sunday, police said. The driver, Vincent Michael Calvo, 28, was westbound on 4th Street before 3 a.m. when, police say, he ran a red light at Tustin Avenue and slammed into a southbound Chevy pickup truck carrying four people. Both vehicles rolled over. This was a violent crash, said Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. Advertisement Though an off-duty firefighter tried to help the four passengers in the truck, all were pronounced dead at the scene, Bertagna said. Calvo was not seriously injured. You see it often when people are intoxicated, somehow, and nobody seems to know why, whether its their relaxed state or what, they seem to survive, Bertagna said. Calvo was eventually taken to jail, where he is being held on suspicion of four counts of murder and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury. His bail was set at $4 million, Bertagna said. The victims in the truck have not been identified but they appeared to be two men and two women, all of whom were in their 30s, Bertagna said. joseph.serna@latimes.com For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter. Thousands of Oakland Unified teachers will walk off the job Thursday, the president of the teachers union announced Saturday. Oakland Education Assn. President Keith Brown said the unions 3,000 members will strike after two years of negotiations with the Oakland Unified School District failed to yield a new agreement. He said 95% of the unions members authorized the strike. Oakland teachers cant afford to live in Oakland, Brown said. He said the union would strike unless there are dramatic changes to the districts approach to provide more funds for nurses, counselors and teachers. The union also wants smaller class sizes. Already, Oakland teachers staged a one-day sickout Jan. 18 in preparation for a possible strike. Advertisement Oakland Unified said in a statement Saturday that it has repeatedly asked the teachers union to return to the bargaining table. I encourage OEA to talk with us, said Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammell in the statement. Despite our challenges, we are prepared with a comprehensive proposal to reach an agreement. If both sides are committed to settling the contract before a strike occurs and we are an agreement can certainly be reached without disrupting the educational experience for students, families and staff. The Oakland walkout would mark the latest in a wave of teachers strikes across the country as unions protest for higher salaries, more support staff and greater regulation over the growth of charter schools. Los Angeles teachers staged a six-day strike last month, and teachers in Denver ended a three-day strike this week. Teachers also walked off the job in Arizona and West Virginia last year. dakota.smith@latimes.com Twitter: @dakotacdsmith The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has issued treasury bills (T-bills) worth EGP 17 billion on Sunday. T-bills are regularly issued every Sunday and Thursday, while T-bonds are offered on Mondays. The issuances aim to reduce the budget deficit. The T-bills were offered in two instalments; the first at EGP 8.5 billion with a 91-day term, and the second through 273-day notes at EGP 8.5 billion. Last week, Egypt sold $1.014 billion worth of one-year dollar-denominated treasury bills at an average yield of 3.797 percent. During the first half of fiscal year 2018/19, the budgets overall deficit dropped to 3.6 percent of the GDP, down from 4.2 percent of the GDP in the same period a year earlier, and compared to an average deficit of 5.3 percent over the past three years. A federal agency is suing former Orange County Register owners Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz over their handling of Freedom Communications pension program, alleging the executives made ill-advised, speculative investments that resulted in the loss of tens of millions of dollars. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a U.S. government agency that insures pension plans, filed a lawsuit Feb. 14 in U.S. District Courts California Central District, Southern Division, alleging breach of fiduciary duties, engaging in prohibited transactions, and knowing participation in breach of fiduciary duties in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The lawsuit alleges Kushner and Spitz failed to act prudently in four investments, including one in which the pair lost millions of dollars of pension plan assets by causing the pension plan to buy stock in Freedom when they knew that the company was in financial distress. Kushner and Spitz both declined to comment on the lawsuit. Advertisement Kushner and Spitz formerly co-owned Freedom Communications and its collection of newspapers, which included the Register. Freedom filed for bankruptcy protection in 2015. dakota.smith@latimes.com Twitter: @dakotacdsmith Los Angeles officials this month called for an investigation into a vermin infestation at City Hall, after at least one city employee was diagnosed with typhus, a disease spread by rodents. The rat problem has focused attention on typhus over the last several weeks. But cases of the disease have actually been increasing in California for more than a decade. Thirteen people in the state were diagnosed with typhus in 2008, compared with 167 last year. More than 95% of the people falling sick in California are in Los Angeles and Orange counties, according to state health data. Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson says he wants to examine the real cause of the typhus cases. On Friday, a giant inflatable rat loomed outside the building while officials inside discussed the vermin issue. Advertisement Murine typhus, also known as endemic typhus, typically causes flu-like symptoms, but can in rare cases be fatal. It is not to be confused with typhoid fever, a food-borne illness that is rarely contracted within the United States. Officials dont keep count of how many cases of murine typhus there are each year nationwide, but among states that do track the numbers California, Texas and Hawaii more people have been falling ill each year, experts say. Why? Theories abound. More homelessness In October, L.A. County officials declared a typhus outbreak in downtown L.A. around skid row. The announcement prompted calls to clean up the streets and find housing for the citys homeless population, which has burgeoned in recent years. (Los Angeles Times) Typhus is often linked to unsanitary conditions and overcrowding, experts say. Animals including rats and cats carry the disease in their bodies, though it doesnt make them ill. Fleas transmit the disease to humans by biting the infected animals and then biting humans, something that could become more common as more people live on the streets. In major cities in the U.S., we hear about increasing numbers of encampments and people living in squalor, said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a professor at UCLAs Fielding School of Public Health. Those conditions are ideal for increase in vermin like rats. Advertisement Among the 19 people who have been infected as part of the typhus outbreak in downtown Los Angeles, eight were homeless, according to the county health department. Dr. Stuart Cohen, chief of the division of infectious diseases at UC Davis, pointed out that a large outbreak of hepatitis A in San Diego that killed 20 people was also linked to the homeless population. Its the same kind of thing: Homeless populations increase and the amount of garbage thats available on the street is increasing the ability to transmit all this other stuff also increases, he said. Climate change The effects of global warming could also be causing more cases of typhus, said Dr. Jeff Duchin, a spokesman for the Infectious Disease Society of America and an infectious-disease professor at the University of Washington. Advertisement Longer and warmer spring and summer seasons are more hospitable to insects and allow them to reproduce more, Duchin said. The trend extends beyond typhus and fleas, he said. Between 2004 and 2016, the number of cases of diseases caused by mosquito, flea and tick bites tripled nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More human interaction with wildlife Recent outbreaks of typhus in Pasadena and Pomona have been linked not to rats associated with dirty cities but with stray cats and opossums. Experts say those outbreaks were the consequence of building homes closer to wilderness. As some of these suburban areas encroach upon some of these habitats for opossums and other rodents, the chances of getting flea bites and therefore picking up the infection increases, Cohen said. Advertisement During the last typhus outbreak in Los Angeles County, in 2015, a single opossum captured in a mobile home park in Pomona had 1,087 fleas on it. Three-fifths of the fleas tested from the cats and opossums that were trapped tested positive for typhus. Los Angeles County health officials would not say which animals are to blame for the downtown outbreak. But many people are pointing to rats. L.A. Councilman Joe Buscaino tweeted a photo last week of a sign at City Hall with tips on how to avoid attracting rodents. City workers say theyve seen fleas, rodent droppings, and plants being eaten by the vermin in the building. Buscaino captioned the photo: Its all fun and games until someone gets typhus. Advertisement Increased awareness The symptoms of typhus, which include body aches, fever and stomach pain, tend to resemble other illnesses. Elizabeth Greenwood, the city employee who fell ill with typhus, was first diagnosed with meningitis. Its possible that more people learning about typhus in recent years has made it seem that there are more cases, said Gilbert Kersh, the CDCs chief of the Rickettsial Zoonoses branch, which focuses on bacterial diseases spread by fleas, lice and ticks. Once people are aware that its in their area, they might start considering it as the diagnosis, and that can lead to revealing more cases that were there already, he said. soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @skarlamangla When the Los Angeles beachfront community of Surfridge disappeared decades ago to make way for the jet age, nature was slow to reclaim the sandy dunes and upscale lots that once dominated the path of planes taking off from Los Angeles International Airport. Today however, this 2-mile ghost town of vanished homes supports a growing list of protected and endangered species that have somehow adapted to the throttled-up roar of passenger jets. Surrounded by hurricane fencing and no trespassing signs, the LAX Dunes Preserve is now a haven for some of the rarest creatures in California. Scientists were elated by the recent discovery of 10 burrowing owls hunkered down in the 302-acre preserve the most seen here in four decades. Among the raptors are a breeding pair that stand guard over a nest and hiss at occasional passersby. A burrowing owl next to its den at the LAX Dunes Preserve, at the west end of the airports runways. Scientists attribute the return of the migratory owls to ongoing restoration work at the 302-acre preserve. (U.S. Geological Survey) Advertisement This is very exciting a real stunner, said Pete Bloom, a biologist and avian expert who was helping to conduct a wildlife survey this month. For wintering owls, this tiny chunk of land has become priceless coastal real estate, he said, raising his voice over the deafening roar of aircraft a few hundred feet overhead. Thats because there is no place else left for them to go in the city of Los Angeles. Sources: OpenStreetMap, Nextzen (Jon Schleuss / Los Angeles Times) The owls are the latest species to add complexity to an undulating habitat of sand, native brush and invasive weeds a small wild island surrounded by asphalt, subdivisions and freeways. The reappearance of owls after a long absence signals the success of a restoration program that began in the 1990s and is now recognized as one of the most successful in Southern California. It is also a sign of natures resilience, experts say. For biologists, the preserve has become an ecological hot spot sandwiched between a popular beach and the third-busiest airport in the nation, said Robert Fisher, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist. We aim to make sure things stay that way. U.S. Geological Survey biological technician Tristan Edgarian searches for owl burrows in the dunes on the west end of Los Angeles International Airport. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Advertisement The range of biodiversity in the windswept landscape which is off-limits to the public underscores the difficulty that government wildlife biologists face ensuring the survival of rare species in an urban setting. Biologists believe there is a chance that juvenile burrowing owls might become permanent residents of the preserve, which is just one small fragment of a dune system that once stretched along the Pacific Coast from Point Conception, west of Santa Barbara, to Mexico. It is already home to 900 species of plants and animals, including federally endangered El Segundo blue butterflies, whose numbers were in steep decline due to habitat loss. Today, thousands of blues flutter over robust stands of buckwheat during certain times of the year. Other species on the rebound in the isolated dunes include native evening primrose and California gnatcatcher. A recent survey of the federally protected bird found three pairs and six juveniles. Advertisement A colony of Blainvilles horned lizards has expanded its range throughout the preserve, along with the harvester ants that sustain them. U.S. Geological Survey ecologist Adam Backlin holds two legless lizards found at the LAX Dunes Preserve between the airport and the Pacific Ocean. (Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times) Ongoing genetic tests aim to determine whether the prehistoric-looking creatures belong to a subspecies unique to the dunes, Fisher said. Up until a few years ago, the 4-inch lizards resided only on the preserves southern boundaries. Then there are the legless lizards, which were recently discovered in the windswept dunes. Advertisement The legless lizard remains one of the most poorly studied reptiles in California, so researchers were thrilled to find six elusive specimens this month. A team led by Fisher and USGS ecologist Adam Backlin found them after turning over a few boards that were placed there earlier to create the kind of moist, cool area the reptiles prefer. Fisher reached down and scooped up one of the lizards for a closer look. They measure about 8 inches long and are as thin as a drinking straw. How cool is that? he asked out loud as the creature wriggled in the palm of his hand. Federal scientists are discussing proposals to reintroduce animals that roamed the dunes a century ago but are no longer there. One candidate could be the Pacific pocket mouse, a critically endangered, thumb-sized mammal previously found only on a gun range at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, about 115 miles south. In the meantime, volunteers organized by nonprofit organizations such as the Bay Foundation and Friends of the LAX Dunes have been working with authorities and the preserves owner Los Angeles World Airports to help restore the landscape. Advertisement Each month, they uproot the invasive weeds that sprout along the cracked, forgotten roads of Surfridge. Developed in the 1920s and 30s, Surfridge was an isolated playground far from downtown at least up until the time it was purchased by LAX and cleared of homes that sat just beyond the western edge of the airports runways. Today, after three years of weed removal, were seeing a surge in native vegetation in some of the places weve cleaned up, said Melodie Grubbs, director of watershed programs for the Bay Foundation. Invasive plants including mustard and Russian thistle, for example, are being replaced by lupine, deer weed, evening primrose, buckwheat and California poppies. Weeds werent the only invading species, however. There was a time when voracious feral cats prowled the dunes. But strategically placed wildlife cameras suggest that is no longer the case. Against cats, burrowing owls dont stand a chance. Advertisement The nearest other burrowing owl is a lone bird about 27 miles away at the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Orange County, biologist and avian expert Bloom said. A jetliner takes off over the LAX Dunes Preserve at the western end of the airport as scientists look for burrowing owls. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Though burrowing owls were once among the states most common birds, their numbers have been dropping steadily since the 1940s due to urban development, eradication of the rodents they feed on, pesticides, predation by domestic animals, vehicle strikes, collisions with wind turbines and shootings. With almost no place left for migratory burrowing owls to rest and bulk up in the winter months, Bloom said, the dunes have become critical to the survival of the species. Make time to remember I was drawn to read Oscars Must Remember Her on seeing the photo of Vanessa Marquez the talented young Hispanic girl cast in the film Stand and Deliver. I hope she receives recognition at the Oscars In Memoriam, although cast mates and other Hollywood people were extremely disappointed she was not included in the recent SAG awards In Memoriam segment. I remember that the young Stand and Deliver cast appeared in the city of Pico Riveras 40th anniversary parade in 1988. Another talented Hispanic actor, Lupe Ontiveros (who was in many films including including Selena and my favorite, This Christmas) lived in Pico Rivera and she was not included in the Oscars In Memoriam after she passed away in 2012. The excuse that award shows do not have enough time to include everyone is weak. Just make the In Memoriam segment longer. Kathy Courtemarche Seal Beach Advertisement Still not enough women in power Regarding This State of the Union was a Joust Between Trump and a Sea of Women in White [Feb. 5]: Lorraine Ali rightfully celebrated the women in white at Trumps State of the Union address. Trump himself acknowledged a historic number of women in Congress. What he failed to do, and what has not gained enough attention in general in coverage of the women in white, is to put their numbers in perspective with respect to other countries. Spain, Sweden, France, Canada, Slovenia and Bolivia have already achieved gender equity in their legislatures. The U.S. percentage currently? 23.4% women in Congress. So while the excitement about more women in Congress is understandable, especially for those who fought hard to make important progress, the time for celebrating our exceptionalism in this area has yet to come. Jack A. Draper III Columbia, Mo. About women of a certain age Regarding Fabulous at 70-plus [Feb. 5]: At 77, I agree with Mary McNamara that 70 is the new fabulous and I am, to the best of my ability, enjoying the luxury of aging. I admire and respect the women mentioned. But that is a very small number of women. How about an article about real people. What about fabulous older women who are ailing and have no support systems? Where is the concern for those 70 and older women who must worry about a $35-a-month rent increase? What about those who are faced with increasing costs of basic necessities, like food? What about women who worry about what will happen when they no longer are able to drive and dont have chauffeurs? Advertisement Eileen Miller Huntington Beach :: In our youth-obsessed country, this article documents the issue of ageism toward women and articulates the success of women in the workforce. Advertisement The good news is that many companies are not stigmatizing older women and are recognizing the advantage of hiring 40-plus women. Dont stop looking for work! As an agent in the modeling industry in the mid-70s through the mid-90s, it was rare to book a model who was approaching her 30s. In todays market, womenwear is modeled by women with gray hair. Judith Fontaine Advertisement Brentwood :: It was a lovely article and a great illustration by Charlie Powell. Id like to put in a plug for the non-famous working elderly. Im almost 81 and I have several volunteer activities that give me enormous pleasure. Advertisement I know too many people who think they are too old to work, but they are defining work too narrowly as paid employment. Carol Mitchell Marina del Rey A good chorus of brothers Advertisement Regarding At the Gay Mens Chorus of L.A., Accusations of Misconduct and a Leader Departing [Feb. 5]: I read with sadness Jessica Gelts article. Sadness because my brothers felt violated and sadness because this is not the GMCLA that I know. This is my eighth year singing with GMCLA. I look forward to our regular Monday-night rehearsals and enjoy participating in the many things this remarkable organization does. I am indeed sorry to know that my choral brothers suffered this kind of assault and indignity. I do not believe that it is rampant or even characteristic of GMCLA. I will continue to be part of the good work that we do, and continue to be a proud member of GMCLA. Patrick Cullen Advertisement Los Angeles Learn from her spot-on words Regarding What Matters in Rape Stories [Feb. 7]: I am a retired Los Angeles high school English teacher. I often reproduced Mary McNamaras columns and used them in class as examples of exemplary writing. Her recent column on rape, I am sure, will be used in classrooms throughout Los Angeles. Thank you for returning to print. Marti Sutherland Advertisement Fallbrook, Calif. :: As usual, Mary McNamara nails it. That is all that need be said. David Weaver, Advertisement San Juan Capistrano Credit but no spoilers, please In Christopher Knights review of Velvet Buzzsaw [Picture an Art Critic, Feb. 6], he gives credit to Otto Preminger, the director of the 1944 film Laura.. In The Times, it never starts with the writing. So, giving credit where its due, the screenplay was written by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein and Betty Reinhardt, based on the 1943 novel Laura by Vera Caspary. Gita Endore Advertisement Los Angeles :: Whatever evils may be ascribed to fictional characters in Velvet Buzzsaw, All about Eve and Laura, they pale beside the cardinal sin of Christopher Knight, who begins his essay by identifying the murderer in a classic mystery movie. Hes going to have to learn to add the words: Spoiler Alert. Preston Neal Jones Advertisement Hollywood A more critical approach Regarding Kamala Harris Lays Out Truths [Feb. 3], Kate Tuttles review of Kamala Harris book, The Truths We Hold: I think it would be best if you chose reviewers who were not so in thrall to the subject/author of the book they review and did not accept unquestioningly the claims of that subject/author. Alan Myerson Advertisement Culver City Folding comics is no joke With all the technology and elite staff you have, you would think you could produce (print) the comics to be able to fold the paper in half and the fold not go through the middle of a comic strip. Think you could make this happen before I die? Leroy Thomas Advertisement Inglewood The conversation continues online with comments and letters from readers at latimes.com/calendarfeedback calendar.letters@latimes.com Just as New Yorkers were absorbing Amazon.com Inc.s decision to abandon a new office hub after tangling over $3 billion in tax breaks, General Electric Co. was beating a retreat in Boston, canceling plans to build an office tower and promising to return $87 million in government incentives. In Wisconsin, Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn was backing away from promises it made in exchange for billions in incentives. Stoked by Amazons decision to turn its search for a new office hub into a nationwide reality show, a long-simmering backlash to corporate subsidies is coming to a boil. State legislators in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and New York are targeting subsidies to individual companies. At the federal level, Sen. Bernie Sanders last year introduced a bill that would tax Amazon, Walmart Inc. and other big employers whose workers collect public assistance. Good government advocates have long complained that giving tax breaks and other incentives to lure corporations to states and municipalities was a wasteful practice. (Just how wasteful was hard to calculate, but a New York Times investigation in 2012 reported that states, cities, and counties are giving up more than $80 billion a year.) Despite the costs, the political logic behind such deals was simple. Though companies might move to get closer to talented workers or important customers, incentives allow government officials to claim credit for attracting jobs, according to Nate Jensen, a professor at University of Texas-Austin. Lawmakers in locations with little chance of landing a corporate target have a more perverse incentive to make rich offers. Advertisement For the most part, deals were done quietly, keeping opponents in the dark. Amazons pageant changed that, as did the election of Donald Trump, who turned the recruitment of industrial companies such as Foxconn into key examples of his pro-manufacturing policies. The attention may have helped corporate locators win richer incentives, but it meant more people were watching to make sure the companies held up their ends of the deal. That hasnt always been the case. Foxconn, which won a $4.5-billion incentive package from the state of Wisconsin, indicated last month it was reconsidering whether it is economically feasible to develop liquid-crystal displays in the state, as it promised. The state economic development agency said the company deserves flexibility after it changed the fundamental terms of its contract and missed its first-year hiring target. In Buffalo, N.Y., where Elon Musk once promised to build the largest solar panel factory in the Western Hemisphere, state dealmakers acceded to a series of amendments lowering the number of factory jobs Tesla needed to create under its $750-million incentive contract, with no penalty to the company. Mary Donegan, an urban and community studies professor at the University of Connecticut, said the local resistance to Amazons headquarters search gives other communities a blueprint for fighting big tax break deals, and may convince states to stay away from high-profile megadeals. Seen another way, Amazon just proves that the economic development game is gaining steam. The company received 238 bids from state and local agencies. Its unlikely that another company will publicize its hunt for subsidies like Amazon did, but absent a federal ban on deals theres no reason to expect that the whole thing will go away. Clark and Mosendz write for Bloomberg. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and US Vice President Mike Pence shake hands at a photo call during the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 16, 2019. AFP From left are SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho, KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu and LG Uplus CEO and Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hwoi By Baek Byung-yeul Korea's telecom firms SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus will try to secure allies in fifth-generation (5G) business at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC), company officials said Sunday. They said it was important to take the technological lead in the super-fast network service that will be commercialized here starting March and to expand partnerships with firms in information and communications technology (ICT) business. To achieve that goal, chiefs of the three telecom firms are scheduled to attend the world's largest mobile trade fair in Barcelona, Spain, from Feb. 25-28. More than 107,000 officials from the ICT industry are expected to attend. Company officials said the chiefs were slated to have meetings with CEOs from global telecom firms, give keynote speeches regarding 5G network technologies and seek business opportunities by visiting promotional booths of participating firms. SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho will attend a board meeting of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), which represents the interests of the world's mobile network operators. The GSMA board is comprised of 26 members from network operators and Park is the sole board member among the executives of Korean telecoms. SK Telecom said Park would discuss how Korea successfully launched its 5G network service on Dec. 1, 2018, and share the firm's business plan using the super-fast network service. "At the meeting, Park will share the success story of the 5G smart office and 5G smart factory services, which are one of the business-to-business services, as well as the future business plan using 5G networks." He also plans to encourage global telecom firms to expand partnerships for international voice calls. In 2018, SK Telecom was recognized among users for launching various kinds of convenient roaming services such as a mobile service that enables users to use their domestic mobile data in Guam and Saipan or giving three minutes of free phone calls per day when overseas. KT Chairman Hwang Chang-kyu will deliver a keynote speech his third following 2015 and 2017. Hwang will talk about KT's 5G technology and services on the opening day of the MWC. To seek new business for the 5G service, Hwang will also visit the promotional booths of global firms such as Samsung Electronics, Nokia and Ericsson. Ha Hyun-hwoi, CEO and vice chairman of LG Uplus, will also seek business partnerships using 5G service. LG said he would meet executives from global mobile firms such as Verizon, T-Mobile and Vodafone as well as ICT firms such as LG Electronics, Samsung and Nokia. Stating that the business boundary between telecommunications and broadcasting services has been blurred, Ha said he would "try to foster new growth engines in 5G with officials from various areas during the MWC." LG Uplus said it would seek to partnerships with media service providers domestically and overseas to provide augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT) services in connection with 5G. By Baek Byung-yeul LG CNS has joined hands with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's largest cloud computing service provider, to co-develop a service to help companies migrate their data to a cloud computing platform, the IT affiliate of LG Group said Sunday. The firm said it had "strategic enablement collaboration" with AWS at its headquarters in the LG Science Park in western Seoul on Friday. With the agreement, the two firms will develop a cloud migration service. The IT firm said it will especially introduce AWS's signature "50 in 50 migration program" that helps companies migrate 50 applications in 50 days. LG CNS will apply the data migration service to itself and other LG Group affiliates and then expand the service to local companies here. It also plans to use the service in overseas markets in Asia. LG CNS CEO Kim Young-shub said the firm "will lead the local cloud computing business along with AWS by developing customer-friendly service." Stating that thousands of companies are transforming their data to AWS to reduce costs and improve their operation performance, Ed Lenta, managing director of AWS in Asia-Pacific, also said "AWS will closely cooperate with LG CNS so that their customers can fully benefit from the cloud computing service." LG CNS has partnered with AWS since 2017 to collaborate on expansion of the cloud computing business in the country. The firm won a contract from Korean Air worth 200 billion won ($178 million) in 2018 to transfer data and applications of the airline firm to AWS. The firm recently developed a cloud service for financial firms along with AWS to offer cloud computing services specialized for the financial sector. By Trudy Rubin On the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution, the rhetoric between team Trump and the ayatollahs has risen to fever pitch. In his State of the Union address, President Trump labeled Iran the "world's leading state sponsor of terror" and "a radical regime" that does "bad, bad things." The United States has withdrawn from a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran and reimposed harsh economic sanctions. Pushing back, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the Iranian slogan "'Death to America' means death to Trump and (national security adviser John) Bolton and (secretary of state Mike) Pompeo." Khamenei's website said the slogan would remain alive until the United States changed its "evil and mean" ways. Yet squeezing the Tehran regime has become the centerpiece of what passes for Trump's Mideast strategy. The president and his top officials have made pretty clear their real goal is regime change. Bolton even publicly predicted to a fringe Iranian opposition group in 2017 that the Tehran regime would fall by 2019. This kind of magical thinking about Iran infuses Trump policy (although Pompeo, at least, should know better). Rather than check Tehran's Mideast misbehavior, it sets the United States up to fail. Before I get to why, let me emphasize that Iran does indeed meddle dangerously in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the Arab Gulf. Some prime examples: Shipping tens of thousands of missiles to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia to point at Israel, vastly expanding the wretched Syrian civil war, and heating up the Syrian border with Israel. But the U.S. response has been confused and contradictory. Rather than work with European and key Arab allies, such as Iraq, to check Iran, the White House has tried to bludgeon them into confronting Tehran directly. And it has made maximalist demands on the ayatollahs that they cannot meet without committing suicide. This approach will not work. Let's start with the Europeans. Our key allies, Britain, Germany and France, wanted to keep the nuclear deal in place, while squeezing Iran toward a second pact that addressed the deal's loopholes (such as missile production). The allies also stood ready to join Trump in pressuring Iran on its Mideast mischief. Instead, Trump junked the deal, asserting that he was countering Iran's nuclear threat. He called his own intel chiefs "naive" and "wrong" when they said Iran was adhering to the deal. The result: Trump has split the key alliance against Tehran. The Europeans are seeking ways to work around new U.S. sanctions vs. Iran, with Russia and China ready to help. The allies want to prevent Iran from leaving the deal, which could set them back on the path to a bomb. Next, let's look at Trump's efforts to rally the Sunni Arab world against Tehran. The president is relying heavily on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as his point man yes, the same MBS who appears to have ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The crown prince has also made a military mess in Yemen, effectively increasing Iranian influence there. Meantime, Trump's sudden decision to swiftly pull all U.S. troops out of Syria (by April, says the Wall Street Journal) will increase Iranian influence in that country. Yet, even as the troop withdrawal removes U.S. leverage in Syria, Pompeo claims, magically, that the U.S. aims to get all Iranian-backed forces out of that country. As for Iraq, Trump and Pompeo again display magical thinking. The president's public proclamation that U.S. troops there will "watch Iran" was rejected even by America's closest Iraqi allies. "Don't overburden Iraq with your own issues," President Barham Salih, a Kurd, said. What Salih meant is that Iraq shares a 905-mile border with Iran, along with historic and religious ties, and can't afford to be a pawn in Trump's anti-Iran crusade. On the other hand, a quiet U.S. policy to continue training Iraq's army in order to balance Tehran's immense influence would be welcome in Baghdad. But a Trump bludgeon won't work. Indeed it is Trump's public Iran-bashing, and his demands that allies join in, that guarantees his policy's failure. "Given the highly public nature of Trump's position on Iran, it is hard to see where his Iran policy goes," says Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, who has had many difficult dealings with Tehran. "You need a broad global policy into which Iran fits." Instead, we have tweets and a flawed assumption that the Iranian regime will collapse under the pressure of sanctions. Instead, by alienating useful allies and relying on magical thinking, Trump enables the ayatollahs to keep destabilizing the Middle East. Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her commentary was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. President Moon Jae-in's visit to the southeastern port city of Busan last week is causing a stir after his remarks about a scrapped project to build a new airport in the region. It was wrong for him to revisit the issue because the previous Park Geun-hye administration already came to a conclusion that it will be more economically sound to expand Gimhae International Airport by 2026 rather than building a new one on Busan's Gadeok Island or in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province. During the visit, Moon said that if there are disagreements among the local governments, the Prime Minister's Office could review the issue again. Moon's remark set off excitement in Busan. Mayor Oh Keo-don, a former minister of oceans and fisheries during the previous Roh Moo-hyun administration, hinted that he would pursue the Gadeok airport plan again after Moon's visit. The plan was scrapped in 2016 due to lack of profitability. Many suspect Moon's airport remark did not come from an earnest desire to revive the regional economy, but to gain advantage ahead of the general elections in 2020. It was imprudent of him to revive an issue that was already settled after a long conflict among relevant local governments. The Moon administration is already under fire for pursuing regional economic projects hastily without properly accessing their cost-effectiveness. The plan to build another airport in Saemangeum in the southwestern region is a case in point. Moon should listen to criticisms that there are already too many airports in the country and refrain from mentioning additional airports around election season. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had talks with Thyssenkrupp CEO Guido Kerkhoff on the company's work in Egypt, especially in the fertilizers complex project in the Red Sea port city of Ain Sokhna. Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said Sisi hailed the efforts exerted by the company in Egypt, stressing keenness to further bilateral cooperation. Meanwhile, Kerkhoff underlined his company's keenness on promoting cooperation with Egypt, especially in view of promising economic and investment opportunities Search Keywords: Short link: By Chang Se-moon On Jan. 22, Bloomberg released the Bloomberg Innovation Index, which is intended to rank countries based on several factors related to innovation in technology. The factors include expenditures on research and development, manufacturing capability, concentration of high-tech public companies, quality of post-secondary education, number of research personnel and number of patents. Data for the index were obtained from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the International Labor Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Korea, called South Korea in the ranking, is ranked No. 1 in the index, meaning that Korea is the most innovative country in the world. Korea is followed in order by Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore, Sweden, the U.S., Japan, and France at No. 10. An interesting question is whether Korea will be able to hold onto the lofty ranking in future years. The good news is that even if Korea falls in the rankings, the fall will not likely be steep. The bad news is that once Korea falls in the rankings, it will be difficult to climb back up to No. 1. The policies of the Korean government will play a vital role in keeping Korea on top of the world in technological innovation. Understandably, world-class technologies here have mostly been developed by Korean conglomerates, called chaebol. Current government policies are to force chaebol to share their resources, if not profits, with their smaller supplier firms. I have a better idea. Since Korean chaebol are the ones that were instrumental in placing Korea at the top of the world, it needs to encourage chaebol to continue what they have been doing. In the latest index, Germany almost caught six-time champion Korea on the basis of manufacturing and research intensity contributed by such industrial giants as Volkswagen AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, and Daimler AG. A lesson from German experience is that Korea needs to encourage, not discourage, the innovative activities of chaebol. Note also that China's steady improvement in the rankings, although still outside the top 10, is due to the research and development efforts from their giants, Huawei Technologies Co. and BOE Technology Group. To encourage smaller, independent companies to join the innovative group, Korea may want to leave chaebol alone, and select some of the smaller, independent companies through competition to provide financial support for their efforts. Korea may also want to encourage technology patent filing by these firms by providing generous financial support. When you look at the key components that make up the index, actual policies will have to be quite comprehensive for Korea to stay at or near the top for many years. First of all, research and development (R&D) efforts do not provide immediate results. Quite often, they may fail to provide a return on investment. This means that government policies need to be long-term in nature and supportive of risk-taking efforts of individual pioneers. Secondly, world-class manufacturing is not a game that policymakers can play around with. I once reviewed court cases in the U.S. in which the early models of Hyundai cars were the target of numerous lawsuits. I truly believe Hyundai paid a price to be where they are now in global competition. We all know that Hyundai is not the only world-class manufacturer Korea has. Samsung Electronics, Hankook Tire, and many more Korean brands are competing in the global market place. All these world-class manufacturers may not even need government support. All they want is likely to be left alone within the laws of the land. Arbitrary determination of minimum wages, inflexible working hours through government intervention, permission to strike by employees earning near $100,000 per year, and the like are policies that will eventually push Korea from the top ranks of the Bloomberg Innovation Index. Another reason why manufacturing giants in Korea should be allowed to be flexible is that manufacturing requires advances in engineering and design, which requires long-term R&D support. As the world economy progresses, all low-tech industries move to countries that lack human resources. Continuing development of high-tech industries is a prerequisite to the long-term survival of world-class manufacturing companies that Korea now enjoys. In the third place, development of cutting-edge technologies relates directly to the quality of post-secondary education, another component of the Bloomberg Innovation Index. Universities and vocational technical schools need to be left alone within the rules of academia. Any interference such as removal of presidents simply because he or she is not supportive of the incumbent political leaders is a sure way of pushing Korea away from the top ranking in the Bloomberg Innovation Index. Finally, my heart-felt congratulations on Korea for being ranked No. 1 in the Bloomberg Innovation Index. I am sure Korea can hold on to that precious spot for many years to come. Chang Se-moon (changsemoon@yahoo.com) is the director of the Gulf Coast Center for Impact Studies. Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol at the site of an explosion in Pampore, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 14. Security officials say 37 soldiers have been killed and many others wounded by a large explosion that struck a paramilitary convoy on a key highway on the outskirts of the disputed region's main city of Srinagar. AP 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. (AFP) By Lee Min-hyung President Moon Jae-in is likely to have a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump sometime this week to exchange views on the upcoming Washington-Pyongyang summit, according to Cheong Wa Dae. The presidential house said the planned dialogue between Moon and Trump will take place before the summit, scheduled for two days from Feb. 27, but did not pinpoint the exact date. South Korea has so far played a mediating role in the ongoing denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea. President Moon will deliver his firm determination to support Trump, with a view to making the second Washington-Pyongyang summit more successful than the previous one. Last year, President Moon held three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In every summit, Moon served as a "peacekeeper" by communicating Kim's determination for denuclearization to Trump, and vice versa. Cheong Wa Dae also did not leave out the possibility that President Moon and Trump may hold a telephone talk early next week. "Leaders of the two Koreas and the U.S. unwaveringly walk on the (same) path (for peace), as they have a strong sense of belief in the direction," President Moon said last week. "I also want to express my respect to the two leaders from Washington and Pyongyang who make unprecedented diplomatic efforts to end their seven decades of distrust." Kim Chang-son, de facto chief of staff to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, leaves Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi luxury hotel in Vietnam's capital after finishing a field inspection on its facility, Saturday (local time). The ranking North Korean official led a 12-member working-level delegation to Vietnam to discuss with U.S. officials a detailed schedule for the upcoming two-day Washington-Pyongyang summit, which kicks off on Feb. 27. / Yonhap Kim Jong-un to visit Vietnam on Feb. 25: report By Lee Min-hyung The United States and North Korea will embark on their second pre-summit working-level talks in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi this week to decide summit agendas and travel routes leaders of the two sides will take during their planned two-day meeting there. Kim Chang-son, who serves as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's de facto chief of staff, will lead its 12-member delegation for talks with a U.S. delegation possibly headed by Daniel Walsh, a White House deputy chief of staff for operations. Detailed schedules for their meeting have yet to be unveiled. But with the highly anticipated summit around the corner, both delegations will likely discuss the final details regarding the agenda for dialogue between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, slated to begin on Feb. 27. The delegations will also exchange their plans on how to transport Trump and Kim during the historic meeting. Kim Chang-son is known as one of the most experienced North Korean officials for the role, and took on the same job during the historic June 12 summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un and the latest inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang last September. On Saturday morning, the North Korean working-level delegation arrived in the host city for the Washington-Pyongyang summit. According to local reports, the U.S. delegation is also known to have arrived in Hanoi on Friday. Expectations are that both sides will start negotiating such details as early as Sunday even if no official announcements have so far been made. From left, Oh Se-hoon, Kim Jin-tae and Hwang Kyo-ahn the candidates in the Feb. 27 chairmanship election for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), join hands together before their live TV debate in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, center, arrives at Incheon International Airport, Sunday, after wrapping up an eight-day visit to the U.S. with floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties. Yonhap Assembly leaders return from US visit By Yi Whan-woo The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, will have a huge effect on South Korea's fate, according to National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang. He was interviewed on Fox 11 TV in Los Angeles, Friday (local time), before he ended his eight-day U.S. visit with the leaders of South Korea's ruling and opposition parties. The delegation returned home on Sunday. "I understand there is a level of skepticism with regards to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and changes the second summit will bring," Moon said. The tour included meetings in Washington, D.C., with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and other U.S. Congress members and State Department officials. "We really wanted them to understand that the second meeting is of great importance to the Korean people and it will determine the fate of our country," he said. Moon added that, although Pelosi and other members of Congress were not optimistic about the Hanoi meeting, they were "now somewhat hopeful" after they understood Seoul's view. In this July 15 file photo, a Seoul Queer Parade participant who claims to support the Rael movement a UFO religion that teaches life on Earth was created by an extraterrestrial species offers a free hug at Seoul Plaza. Korea Times file By Jung Hae-myoung The ratio of people opposing homosexuality has dropped below 50 percent for the first time, a survey showed, Sunday, indicating Korean society is becoming more accepting of sexual minorities. According to the survey conducted by the Korea Institute of Public Administration of 8,000 people aged from 19 to 69 in September and October, 49 percent of respondents said they do not accept homosexuality. It was the first time for less than half of the respondents to say so: the ratio of people against homosexuality was 62.1 percent in 2013, 56.9 percent in 2014, 57.7 percent in 2015, 55.8 percent in 2016 and 57.2 percent in 2017. For other minority groups, 12.6 percent people said they cannot accept North Korean refugees, 5.7 percent are against immigrants and foreign workers, and 6.7 percent against ex-convicts. By gender, men were less accepting than women of disabled people and children of single parents, and women were less accepting of ex-convicts, sexual minorities, North Korean refugees and immigrants. By political orientation, the ratio of people calling themselves liberals has increased, while that of people with conservative inclinations has declined, with the gap widening to more than 10 percentage points. The largest portion of the respondents, 47.4 percent, said they are politically neutral, followed by 31.4 percent who said they are liberal, and 21. 2 percent saying they are conservative. In 2013, 22.6 percent of people said they were liberal and 31 percent said conservative, but the ratios reversed over five years. The ratio of people calling themselves liberals was higher among men, younger generations and those in high-income brackets. For economy, the ratio of people who put more importance on growth rather than distribution has increased from 19 percent in 2016 to 20.6 percent in 2017 and 21.5 percent in 2018, while those stressing distribution have dropped from 17.1 percent to 15.8 percent and 13.7 percent during the same period. Relations and communication among people have improved. In 2017, 11.5 percent of the surveyed people said they had no one to help them when they got sick, and the ratio decreased to 9.3 percent in 2018. While 25.8 percent of people said in 2017 they had no one to borrow money from when needed, the rate also dropped to 18.3 percent in the latest survey. By Kim Rahn Sohn Suk-hee, the head of cable channel JTBC and news presenter, was questioned, Saturday, over his alleged assault of a freelance journalist. He was accused of punching the journalist, surnamed Kim, several times during a dinner meeting in Seoul on Jan. 10. The interrogation continued for about 19 hours and Sohn returned home around 3 a.m. on Sunday. After the questioning, he told reporters, "The truth will be revealed." Kim claimed he was preparing to report on a car accident caused by Sohn several years ago, and the JTBC chief offered him a job at the broadcaster in return for not reporting it. He said he rejected the offer and then Sohn attacked him. Sohn denied the accusation, claiming Kim demanded a JTBC job by threatening him with the car accident issue. Kim got angry as he rejected the demand, and they had an argument which involved some physical contact, according to Sohn. Kim again claimed Sohn offered him a contract job with JTBC guaranteeing 10 million won ($8,800) in monthly income for two years, to cover up the assault. They sued each other for extortion, threat and defamation. Chinese military aircraft violated the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) eight times in 2018. / Korea Times file By Yi Whan-woo China and Japan appear to be trying to step up their military presence around the Korean Peninsula amid a debate between South Korea and the United States over defense cost-sharing. Diplomatic and security sources say Beijing and Tokyo are preparing for a possible realignment of U.S. troops in South Korea and a reduced U.S. military presence on the peninsula. In 2018, Chinese military aircraft violated the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) eight times. For instance, a Chinese military aircraft entered the KADIZ at around 10:21 a.m. on Dec. 27 from an area near Jeju Island and Ieo Island and exited half an hour later, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). An aircraft again crossed into the KADIZ at around 11:54 a.m. and flew out of the zone at around 12:51 p.m., the JCS said, adding that the aircraft made another entry at 2:14 p.m. before leaving at around 3 p.m. A JCS official said the aircraft was believed to be a Y-9 type reconnaissance plane. The KADIZ extends beyond South Korea' territory to give the country more time to respond to hostile acts near its airspace. A section of the KADIZ overlaps the air defense zones designated by China and Japan, a source of potential tension among the regional powers. South Korean military officials said China's move was aimed at testing responses from Seoul and Tokyo. Korea and Japan recently had a dispute over the radar "lock-on" incident, in which Tokyo claimed the KDX-I destroyer Gwanggaeto the Great locked its fire-control tracking radar on a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol plane multiple times. / Korea Times file Japan had a dispute with South Korea over a recent military radar "lock-on" incident. Despite Seoul's denial, Tokyo claimed that South Korea's 3,200-ton Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer locked its fire-control tracking radar on a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol plane multiple times on Dec. 20. Seoul argued that the ship was on a humanitarian mission to rescue a North Korean boat drifting in the international waters in the East Sea and that it used only ship-to-ship radar for the rescue operation and did not do anything to threaten the Japanese plane. Diplomatic sources said the row was a game of who is telling the truth, with the neighboring countries exchanging blunt accusations. The sources pointed out that although Seoul and Tokyo had a military information-sharing agreement, signed in November 2016, the two sides have refused to reveal some related secrets that would help reveal the facts surrounding the incident. The mistrust between Seoul and Tokyo mainly stems from a row over historical issues, highlighted again by disputes over back-to-back Seoul court rulings last year against Japanese firms that forced South Koreans into hard labor during the World War II and Seoul's decision to dissolve a Tokyo-funded foundation for sexual slavery victims. In this climate, some South Korean security sources speculated that both China and Japan may have provoked a military dispute intentionally to see the South's response. "China and Japan certainly will want to be key players on the peninsula if the U.S. reduces its troops in the South and its military presence shrinks," a source said. The U.S., although it has underscored a trilateral alliance with South Korea and Japan, declined to act as a mediator in the radar "lock-on" incident. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, right, shakes hands with Timothy Betts, the top U.S. negotiator in defense cost-sharing talks between Seoul and Washington, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in downtown Seoul, Feb. 10. South Korea agreed to pay 1.04 trillion won ($924 million) for the upkeep of American troops this year, up from 960 billion won in 2018. / Korea Times file The portion of South Koreans who are opposed to homosexuality fell below 50 percent for the first time, a report showed Sunday, in an indication of Koreans' growing openness to sexual minorities. In a 2018 poll of 8,000 Korean adults, 49 percent said that they cannot accept homosexuals, down from 57.2 percent tallied in 2017, according to the Korea Institute of Public Administration. Koreans opposing homosexuality accounted for 62.1 percent in 2013 and has been since on the decline. Last year was the first time that corresponding data fell below 50 percent, the agency added. In terms of the tendency for minority exclusion, Korean women were less accepting than men of criminals, homosexuals, North Korean defectors and immigrants. For Korean men, they showed less openness toward physically challenged people and children of single parent families. As political orientation, more Koreans identify as liberals, the report said. It showed 47.4 percent of the surveyed identifying as politically moderate, followed by liberals with 31.4 percent and conservatives with 21.2 percent. In 2013, 22.6 percent of Koreans identified as liberals, compared with 31 percent as conservatives. But five years later, the trend was overturned. (Yonhap) UK international energy company Petroceltic has announced its intention to seek arbitration in a dispute with Egypt's state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) over what Petroceltic says is the Egyptian company's failure to pay debts. Petroceltic said in a statement that it is seeking arbitration with the World Bank-managed International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes over EGPC's "breach of its obligations under multiple Gas Sales Agreements and in particular EGPCs inability to pay its debts as they fall due for payment." Petroceltic Chairman Angelo Moskov said that the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Egypt and sustained hundreds of EGPC jobs in joint venture with EGPC, at considerable expense to Petroceltic. "Petroceltic has been a good corporate citizen and a friend to the Arab Republic of Egypt for many years and as such we are disappointed at the way we are now being treated. We do not threaten international arbitration lightly, but equally we are at the end of our patience with EGPC: the current situation is totally unacceptable," the Petroceltic chairman said. "I would strongly urge EGPC to rectify its current default without further delay in order to restore cordial relationships between our two respective companies and to send a positive message to the international investment community, he said. Egypt's Minister of Petroluem Tarek El-Molla has said that Egypt is willing to pay debts to foreign oil and gas companies by the end of 2019. El-Molla affirmed that Egypt has reduced debts to foreign companies from $6.3 billion in 2012 to $1.2 billion in mid-2018. Short link: By Kim Hyun-bin Losing weight and quitting smoking are two of the most common New Year resolutions. However, it is commonly known that in the process of quitting smoking, a person's appetite increase, which tends to lead to a weight gain. Does a person really gain weight when trying to quit smoking or is it just a misconception? Many experts say quitting smoking makes people healthier and does not lead to a weight gain. Once a person quits smoking for a certain period of time, his or her body returns to the state similar to that of a non-smoker. When a person quits smoking for around a month, there is a reduction in appetite and weight as well as enhanced exercise capability. Quitting smoking harder for obese people People trying to quit smoking need to be aware that when quitting just for a short period, they could actually gain weight as a lack of nicotine increases appetite and people tend to indulge in more snacks to replace their nicotine cravings. There is a correlation between obesity and smoking. Obese people have a stronger craving for cigarettes compared to the average person, which makes it harder for them to quit. A team of medical experts from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus found that a person with a body mass index of over 30 had twice the chance to become addicted to smoking than an average person. On the other hand, the more a person smoked, the higher the possibility of becoming obese. According to German research on 7,124 people, a person who smoked more than 30 cigarettes a day had a five times higher chance of becoming obese than nonsmokers. "Cigarettes increase visceral fat which is the main cause of stomach fat. A person who smokes more than a pack a day has about 11 percent more visceral fat than a nonsmoker," said Lee Ki-hun, a professor of family medicine at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. "If a person quits smoking for a long period of time, the visceral fat level becomes similar to that of a nonsmoker." Smoking is heavily correlated to numerous diseases including cardiovascular disorders and diabetes, so it is best to stay away from cigarettes, he added. Consultation advised for obese smokers Obesity and smoking addiction are hard to overcome due to withdrawal symptoms. Those considering quitting smoking are advised to get anti-smoking treatment and therapy available at hospitals, as consultation with a professional increases the chances of quitting. Only 3 percent to 4 percent of people succeed in quitting smoking when they try on their own, but the rate drastically increases when consulting with a professional and receiving anti-smoking medications. Smokers who are significantly dependent on nicotine should consider nicotine replacement or drug therapy. Anti-smoking medicines work by interfering with nicotine receptors in the brain. This means they have two effects: lessening the pleasure a person gets from smoking and reducing the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Several studies have shown varenicline can increase the chance of quitting tobacco: when using a medicine containing varenicline for 12 weeks, it increases the success rate to 33.5 percent. It is known to be relatively safe for people with chronic problems, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Government-financed programs The government fully covers the expenses of an anti-smoking program if the smoker fully quits after taking part. The participants pay for treatment first, but all payments are reimbursed when successfully quitting smoking after the 12-week program. The program consists of professional consultations and anti-smoking medications. A smoker has up to three chances to participate in the program within a year in case they fail. There are also government-funded anti-smoking camps, which give consultations and medications for five days. Those who want to take part in can apply through 17 anti-smoking support centers around the country including Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Daejeon and Gwangju. Kim Chang-son, known as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's de facto chief of staff, sitting in a car after inspecting Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel, Saturday. Yonhap A senior North Korean official is believed to have looked around areas near a smartphone factory in Vietnam owned by South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., sources said Sunday. Kim Chang-son, known as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's de facto chief of staff, and other officials arrived in Hanoi Saturday to check logistics for a second summit between the United States and North Korea slated for Feb. 27-28. The Kim delegation left the Vietnamese government's guest house in Hanoi at around 7 a.m. and headed north to the Bac Ninh province where a smartphone-producing line by Samsung Electronics is located, according to sources. The group is believed to have driven around the areas surrounding the factory and assessed the routes to and from Hanoi. It also visited Thai Nguyen province in the northeast region where another Samsung smartphone factory is located. North Korea, US fine-tuning details for 2nd summit 'Kim-Trump summit will determine S. Korea's fate' Vietnam launches round-the-clock police surveillance ahead of Trump-Kim summit His trip is spawning speculation that Kim Jong-un may seek to visit one of Samsung Electronics' factories when he makes a state visit to Vietnam later this month. If Kim's possible visit to the factory is realized, he could send a message to the international community that his country will seek to develop the North Korean economy through reform and openness. "We have yet to have receive any notice from authorities that North Korean officials would visit Samsung factories," a Samsung official said. Samsung Electronics built factories in Bac Ninh in 2008 and Thai Nguyen in 2013. Since then, almost half of its smartphones have been produced in Vietnam. Citing sources, Reuters earlier reported Kim will arrive in Vietnam on Feb. 25 ahead of his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The report also said the North's leader will also visit the Vietnamese manufacturing base of Bac Ninh and the industrial port town of Hai Phong. Kim Chang-son, an official at the State Affairs Commission, was in charge of protocol during the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore last June. North Korean and US officials landed in Hanoi on Saturday as all three countries prepare for the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, Vietnamese state media reported. The two delegations are expected to organize logistical coordination for the summit, the VnExpress news site reported. Hanoi police also said they would dispatch 96 patrol groups to crack down on crime in the 10 days preceding the summit. City landmarks will also be put on round-the-clock police surveillance. Security for the summit is expected to be tight. While the risk of terrorism is considered extremely low in Vietnam, the capital's density makes the city harder for bodyguards on both the Korean and US teams to secure their bosses. Black kite / gettyimagesbank Korean economy should take cue from 'black kite' By Park Hyong-ki Once a black kite, a bird of prey, reaches an old age, its wings, beak and toes become weak, useless and ineffective. So it has to decide will it continue to fly tired, old and unable to catch his prey until its death? Or, will it restart by completely abandoning its old self? If it chooses the latter, it must go through 130 days of pain of pulling out every single feather and toenail to grow them back anew. It also has to sharpen its beak against a rough, hard rock, according to a fable. The process is intolerable and insufferable. Just imagine pulling out your fingernails. To the bird of prey, 130 days may seem like 130 years. But the black kite has no other option, if it wants to renew and transform itself to head for the next stage of life. After that period, the kite is no longer the raptor it used to be, but a totally different one that can fly faster, higher and stronger with sharper senses. Our economy old, tired and rusty is at this critical point such as the kite faces when reaching that moment in life. Which path will it decide on? Will it conform to the ways and industries it has been used to? Or restart and refresh through complete abandonment to its old self? Our economy and society shout and cry for transformation, while seemingly trying to avoid the risk, pain and hardship ahead. This country may be one of the world's fastest adopters of technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence. But transformation and adoption are totally different. One's painful and the other is painless. One economically involves a really hard landing, and the other a soft landing. gettyimagesbank Serene Chen, managing director of Deutsche Bank Asia in Singapore / Courtesy of Deutsche Bank Chen prioritizes helping clients navigate uncertainties By Park Hyong-ki Serene Chen is a 34-year-old Singaporean executive at Deutsche Bank who heads one of its key sales groups for clients in the Asia Pacific. It may almost be impossible for anyone here to imagine such a "young woman" taking on a leadership role especially in male-dominated finance, given Korea's gender inequality. But Chen said it is very common to see a lot of women working their way up to become leaders in Singapore, and even inside Deutsche Bank. Singapore ranks seventh in leadership opportunities for women, according to global business school INSEAD's global talent competitiveness index. Korea ranked 117th out of 125 countries. Women, who were promoted at the investment bank in Asia this year, accounted for over 40 percent of the total, according to Chen, who became a managing director about two years ago. Deutsche Bank in Seoul has a female to male employee ratio of seven to three. She said she believed Singapore's senior male leaders and their drive for social reform helped develop a "strong network" of female leadership for the economy. "Singapore clearly wasn't like this about 10 years ago. But society has evolved over the years, thanks to reforms and support from male leaders," Chen said in a recent interview at Deutsch Bank's Seoul office. "We are a small populated economy. Therefore, we need whatever talent we can get to contribute to the economy and growth." It took some time for Singapore as well, through policies including one ensuring mothers who took maternity leave the right to rejoin the workforce, she added. Now, the country's gender equality is at a level where men and women see each other as "partners," who do not treat one another by ranks. "We have a very little conscious awareness that I am a female and you're a man. That's the norm," Chen said. "It is not very hierarchical. Clearly, this comes as societies evolve." She said as any markets that pursue a change where women's voices are heard more than ever before, the economy here will, too, "evolve" in the natural course of development. "I think one needs to be brave and embrace diversity. Then, I believe a cultural shift will gradually take place." gettyimagesbank Navigating uncertainties Chen currently leads Deutsche Bank's risk management solutions group based in Singapore. Her senior team members in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and China are all women, she noted. Even though finance is traditionally dominated by men given its conservative nature especially in sales and trading, Chen said Deutsche Bank has been good at promoting women to leadership posts. That does not mean the investment bank gives special treatment to women, she noted. Rather, it means the bank gives everyone a "fair shot," regardless of sex. Under the environment, she said she has no trouble carrying out her job, which is mainly to keep her clients "updated on and make them aware" of constant regulatory changes and risk exposures. "We live in a world, unfortunately, surrounded by and facing a fair amount of uncertainties on multiple fronts," Chen said. "There are Brexit, trade wars and so many other ongoing geopolitical risk factors that are constantly evolving. What was relevant yesterday may be irrelevant tomorrow. What I do, to the extent, is help our clients navigate the markets under these uncertainties, and help them understand what their risk exposures are." gettyimagesbank Rapper Binzeeno and his German girlfriend Stefanie Michova on Wednesday after the rapper has been discharged from military service. Screenshot from Beenzino's Instagram account By Jung Da-min Popular rapper Beenzino has returned to the civilian world on Sunday, completing his 21-month military duty. Beenzino, 31, whose real name is Lim Sung-bin, announced his mission accomplished by posting a photo on the Instagram of himself and his German model girlfriend Stefanie Michova meeting after he walked out of his base in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province. Michova expressed her happiness by sharing a video clip capturing the moment of her hugging the long-awaited boyfriend on her Instagram account. "D-day! I got him back finally," Michova wrote. Beenzino and Stefanie Michova hugging each other on Wednesday. Screenshot from Stefanie Michova's Instagram account Beenzino joined the military in May 2017. All able-bodied South Korean men are obliged to serve in the military for nearly two years to defend the country from a possible North Korean invasion. He spent 21 months at a unit under the Army's 6th Infantry Division near the inter-Korean border. Beenzino made his debut in 2010 as a member of hip-hop duo Jazzyfact with DJ/producer Shimmy Twice. His hit songs include "YGGR" (2014), "Dali, Van, Picasso" (2016) and "Life in Color" (2016). Beenzino and his colleague rapper The Quiett Wednesday. The two are with the hip-hop label Illionaire Records. Screenshot from The Quiett's Instagram K-pop boy band BIGBANG's Seungri went ahead with a planned concert in Seoul on Saturday despite a snowballing scandal centering on a nightclub he was formerly involved in, although he apologized for his controversial stance on the club. Ahead of his solo concert at Olympic Park in southern Seoul, Seungri said he was sorry for causing "disappointment and concerns" to his fans over controversies surrounding Burning Sun, a famous club located in the bustling Gangnam Station area. "I didn't show a responsible attitude even though controversy flared up at a place I openly mentioned," Seungri said onstage. "As a celebrity, I didn't weigh my words deeply and I was careless." His apology came just hours after a Chinese woman under suspicion of illegally providing drugs at the club voluntarily appeared before police for questioning. Burning Sun has been at the center of a scandal involving drug trafficking, sexual assaults and violence against its customers. The scandal broke out after the club's security staff beat up a 28-year-old man in late November. The man later claimed that the senior club officials and police officers colluded to make him out to be an attacker, not a victim. After the incident, a woman who visited the club claimed she was drugged and raped at the hotel that houses the club. A sex tape presumed to be taken inside the club was also revealed, leading to a police raid on the club on Thursday. The 29-year-old K-pop star, who had served as an inside board director of the club and actively promoted it on TV and online, resigned from his position after the scandal, saying he hadn't directly engaged in its management. (Yonhap) Kokomo, IN (46901) Today Windy with showers and thunderstorms likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 77F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Kenya has summoned its ambassador to Somalia back home after the Mogadishu government's decision to auction oil and gas exploration blocks at the centre of a maritime territorial dispute in the Indian Ocean, the foreign ministry said. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is considering a claim on the two countries' maritime boundaries brought by Somalia in 2014 after negotiations over the 100,000 square km stretch of sea floor broke down. Kenya said on Saturday it had summoned its ambassador, Lucas Tumbo, and asked his Somalia counterpart Mohammed Muhamud Nur to return to Mogadishu for consultation with his government. "The summons is a consequence of a most regretful and egregious decision by the government of Somalia to auction off oil and gas blocks in Kenya's maritime territorial area," the foreign ministry said. Somalia, which held the auction in London on Feb. 7 according to Kenya, denied the accusation. "There was no auction of oil blocks," the government said in a statement. Officials in Mogadishu had confidence they could secure the territorial integrity of the country through the legal process in The Hague, they said in the statement, adding they expected the court to rule justly. Kenya said it had raised concerns with the Somali government a day before the auction after it noticed blocks in what it considers to be its maritime territory were included in the auction. "This unparalleled affront and illegal grab at the resources of Kenya will not go unanswered and is tantamount to an act of aggression against the people of Kenya and their resources," it said in a statement, adding it was ready to defend its territorial integrity "at any cost". The two states have been co-operating in the long fight against the al Qaeda-linked, al Shabaab militants in Somalia. Kenya said the row over maritime territory could jeopardise that. Short link: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday said Saudi Arabia has signed investment agreements worth $20 billion during his high-profile visit to Pakistan, where tensions were flaring up with nuclear-armed rival India. Kicking off his tour of South Asia and China with a far higher Pakistan investment than expected, the crown prince said the $20 billion figure represents only the start of an economic tie-up that would bring the historic Muslim allies even closer. "Its big for phase 1, and definitely it will grow every month and every year, and it will be beneficial to both countries," said the crown prince. "We have been a brotherly country, a friendly country to Pakistan. Weve walked together in tough and good times, and we (will) continue." But Prince Mohammed's visit is at risk of being overshadowed by Pakistan's growing tensions with India. Earlier this week a suicide bomber killed 44 Indian paramilitary police in the disputed Kashmir region. New Delhi has accused Pakistan of having a hand in the bombing and vowed to punish Islamabad, which denies involvement. Cash-strapped and in need of friends, Pakistan welcomed the crown prince with open arms and in grandiose fashion, including sending fighter jets to guide his incoming plane once it entered Pakistani airspace. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan's army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa greeted Prince Mohammed on the red carpet of a military airport in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, before Khan personally drove the crown prince to the capital Islamabad. "Saudi Arabia has always been a friend in need, which is why we value it so much," said Khan, while seated next to Prince Mohammed. "I want to thank you for the way you helped us when we were in bad situation." Saudi Arabia has in recent months helped keep Pakistan's economy afloat by propping up its rapidly dwindling foreign exchange reserves with a $6 billion loan, giving Islamabad breathing room as it negotiates a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. Islamabad has shown appreciation by treating Prince Mohammed's trip as the biggest state visit since Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015, soon after Beijing announced plans to invest tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure in Pakistan as part of China's global Belt and Road initiative. He had also planned to visit Indonesia and Malaysia during the tour, but those trips have been postponed, according to Malaysian and Indonesian officials. In Pakistan, most of the agreements signed focused on energy projects, including a $10 billion refinery and petrochemicals complex in the coastal city of Gwadar, where China is building a port. Memorandums of understanding were also signed for investments in minerals and agriculture, Khan said. The two nations' relationship has in the past centred on oil-rich Saudi Arabia backing Pakistan's economy during difficult periods, and in return Pakistan's powerful army lending support to Saudi Arabia and its royal family. As the guardians of most holy sites in the birthplace of Islam, the Saudi royal family carries vast religious clout in Pakistan, a staunchly conservative and mainly Muslim nation of 208 million people. "What is happening in this relationship is a renewal of Pakistan's commitment to help protect the royal family and the order as it exists in Saudi Arabia," said Mosharraf Zaidi, Senior Fellow at Tabadlab, a Pakistani think tank focused on global and local public policy. "On the flip side, there is reassurance that Saudi Arabia will not only continue to serve as a strategic friend who will help shore up Pakistan's finances when needed, but it's also going to become a participant in the wider investment in Pakistan." Prince Mohammed was also set to meet representatives of the Afghan Taliban militant group to discuss peace negotiations to end the 17-year civil war in Afghanistan, Pakistani government and militant sources said. But that was unlikely after the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group's planned meetings with Khan and U.S. officials in Islamabad were called off. * This story was edited by Ahram Online. Short link: Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Cloudy skies this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 82F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Graffice is the son of Nick and Heather Graffice. He is in wrestling, Teen Leadership Corps, Key Club, student council and is on the principals list. He plans to attend the University of Cincinnati to study civil engineering. Schaffer is the daughter of James and Elizabeth Adams. She is the secretary of Key Club and student council and a Trucker Imprint feature editor. Schaffer is in the National Honor Society, orchestra and Drug Free Clubs of America. She has received honors in district orchestra, went on the Huron County Honor Trip and participated in Buckeye Girls State. She plans to attend The Ohio State University to major in biology. White is the daughter of Elijah and Candice White. She has volunteered at the Norwalk Police Department Safety Town for the past four years and works at the Norwalk Dunkin Donuts. Adrianna White is on the principals list and has earned more than 40 college credit hours through the College Credit Pus program. She plans to go to London and Paris this summer before starting the dental hygienist program at Lorian County Community College in the fall. Other problems arose as well: Their tools were metric, but they needed U.S.-calibrated tools because they were working on an American-built truck. Then their parts didnt arrive on time, first being delayed at an airport and then in Abu Dhabi. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Meanwhile the team had to do some prep work and team members had to take on some different roles in order to not lose too much time. Working under a hot desert sun also was no day at the beach. To make up for lost time, the team had to put in long days, totaling more than 700 hours. We had early mornings and late, late nights, Valenti said. We knew we had to finish that truck within our deadline. We definitely did not want to do an incomplete vehicle. There was no way we had come 7,000 miles to fail. Failing was not an option. Adding the cool factor was a mission, said Valenti. Carrying out the sinister theme called for a black finish including the trim. They lowered the suspension to give it a low-riding look, but put on 18-inch wheels. The Valenti team also installed a turbo charger. 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 Traveling on a Sunday has never been more rewarding. Arrive on Sunday, stay for at least 3 nights and enjoy 30% off your room rate and daily breakfast for two. Extra bonus: upgrade to a one bedroom villa upon arrival. Imagine a side of Los Cabos you never knew existed, where the soul willingly surrenders to el sol. Its a fresh and vibrant approach to Los Cabos luxurya singular beachfront retreat commanding a contour of the cape where every room and vantage point overlooks El Arco and the Bahia Cabo San Lucas horizon. Intuitively interwoven within the natural landscape surrounding the Monuments Beach point break, The Cape is a place to revel in the heat of the moment. The clean, contemporary lines of visionary Mexico City architect Javier Sanchez converge in a relaxed 1960s Southern California-meets-Baja aesthetic at this luxury boutique hotel. For more Luxury Villa Reviews visit our Cabo City Guide Diehard jihadists have blocked roads out of the last scrap of their Islamic State group "caliphate" in Syria, US-backed forces fighting them said Sunday, preventing hundreds of civilians from fleeing. US President Donald Trump called on his European allies to take back alleged jihadists captured in Syria, prompting Belgium to call for a "European solution" to the security issue. IS declared a proto-state across parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but has since lost all of it except a tiny patch of less than half a kilometre square in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border. Near the front line in the village of Baghouz, the sound of outgoing mortar rounds punctured the otherwise quiet afternoon, an AFP correspondent there said. There were a few bursts of gunfire from the Baghouz skyline and the thick whir of warplanes overhead. On a rooftop on the edges of the village, a fighter with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces battling IS told AFP that even the frequencies used by the jihadists to communicate had gone dead. "They used to ask for ammunition by saying: 'You have five crates of tomatoes. Bring them to us.' They spoke in code," Sheldar Hasakeh said. "They wouldn't say they were under fire, they'd say 'It's raining on us from the north,'" said the stocky 40-year-old. "Now their area of control is really squeezed and they don't have as many walkie talkies. They're not talking to each other as much," he added. Earlier Sunday, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said IS had blocked roads out of its holdout, preventing up to 2,000 civilians from escaping. "Daesh has sealed off all the streets," he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. 'Human shields' A spokesman for the US-led coalition said IS was using these women and children as "human shields". "Civilians who have escaped are reporting ISIS is using them as human shields," Sean Ryan said. Thousands of people have streamed out of the so-called "Baghouz pocket" in recent weeks, but at a collection point for new arrivals on Sunday, dozens of tents and a few trucks sat empty. "It's been two days since anyone came out," an SDF fighter told AFP. After years of fighting IS, the SDF hold hundreds of foreigners accused of fighting for the group, and well as related women and children. Syria's Kurds have repeatedly called for their countries of origin to take them back, but these nations have been reluctant. The issue has taken on greater urgency, however, amid fears of a security vacuum since Trump's shock announcement in December that US troops would withdraw. "The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial," Trump said in a tweet, using another acronym for IS. Otherwise, "we will be forced to release them. The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go." 'European solution' Trump's tweet prompted a reaction from Paris, Brussels and Berlin. In Syria, "it is the Kurds who hold them (the French jihadists) and we have every confidence in their ability to keep them detained," French junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said. If they return, "they will all be tried, and incarcerated," he said, after France this month opened the door to bringing back its citizens. A French source said an estimated 150 French nationals, including 90 children, could be brought back, but authorities have not confirmed any transfer. In Belgium, justice minister Koen Geens called for a collective "European solution" that carries the least security risks. In Germany, foreign ministry sources said "the federal government is examining options to enable German citizens to leave Syria, especially in humanitarian cases". Beyond Baghouz, IS retains a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert, and has claimed deadly attacks in SDF-held territory. "Over the past month, more than one foreign sleeper cell was arrested in multiple areas in Syria," spokesman Bali said. Any withdrawal would leave Syria's Kurds exposed to a long-threatened attack by neighbouring Turkey, which views Kurdish fighters as "terrorists". They have scrambled to seek a new ally in Damascus after spending most of Syria's conflict working towards self-rule. Eight years into the conflict that has killed more than 360,000 people, President Bashar al-Assad's government controls nearly two-thirds of the country. Assad on Sunday warned the Kurds that the US would not protect them against Turkey. "No one will protect you except your state," he said. 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Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted. A former Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity to ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe has revealed how Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed betrayed senate President, Bukola Saraki. In a very long post via Facebook on Sunday, revealed how Lai Mohammed got his ministerial position under President Muhammadu Buharis government Why it is such a shame that Mr Mohammed is now fighting Mr Saraki. He wrote: How Lai Mohammed betrayed Saraki. Prior to the establishment of the PMB govt, certain agreements were reached with Principal stakeholders. Saraki was among the major stakeholders, haven being the single individual that raised the highest donation to the Buhari/Apc campaign. Far in excess of asiwaju Tinubu or amechi or anyone for that matter. Saraki was promised the post of Senate President and 2 ministerial slots. After May 29th Pmb called Saraki and apologised that he can only have one ministerial slot instead of the 2 previously agreed. Saraki most reluctantly but in deference to the President conceeded. Shortly afterwards the president requested for another political favour from saraki. This time he wanted Sarakis consent to use the remaining one ministerial slot allocated to him ( saraki) to appoint Lai Mohammed as minister. This was a gruelsome blow to saraki who questioned why the President could not ask Asiwaju to accomodate Lai Mohammed in his own slot. The President confirmed to saraki that Asiwaju had blatantly refused to do so. A thoroughly perplexed saraki could only plead with the president to allow him go ack home in kwara and find the best way to break this heart shattering news to members of his political family in kwara. It was an unimaginable s scenario. It took more than sagacity and political dexterity for the request of the president to be accepted .But for Grace and very long lasting bonded relationship for the saraki camp not to break up for this singular development. Lai Mohammed was summoned by the elders of the group including alhaji Baraje and fmr governor Shabazz lafiaji and others. Lai Mohammed wept profusely, severally rolling on bare floor and swearing on every sacred institutions and objects of faith. The elders told him point blank that they do not trust him but they were doing this for God, the President and interest of their leader buki saraki. TODAY LAI MOHAMMED IS THE LEADER OF A MOVEMENT PLANNING YO UNSEAT SARAKI AND DESTROY HIM POLITICALLY. GOD ALMIGHTY IS NOT A REWARDER OF EVIL DOOERS. Heads of Election Observation Missions for the 2019 elections, have called on Nigerians to remain calm in the face of shift in the Presidential, National, Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the country. Following the rescheduling of the general elections the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigerians from all walks of life have continued to react to the postponement and lamenting the disruptions the new dates will cause in their economic and social lives even as they said decision will affect them economically as well as disrupt their calendar particularly as it affects social engagements. Daily Times FEBRUARY 17, 2019 A former Chairman of the governing council of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has described the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai as irresponsible for alleging that 66 people were killed in Kajoro, a town in the state. El-Rufai made the allegation on the eve of the 2019 presidential election which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Daily Trust Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, on Sunday expressed confidence that the postponement of the general elections by one week will not stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning the polls. Leadership A non-governmental organisation, the Red Card Movement (RCM), has said that they are ready to move all their members to polling units in support of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar. The Nation US President Donald Trump Sunday called on his European allies to take back alleged jihadists captured in Syria, as Islamic State group fighters defended the last scrap of their "caliphate". IS group declared a proto-state across parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but has since lost all of it except a tiny patch of less than half a kilometre square near the Iraqi border. After years of fighting IS group, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) hold hundreds of foreigners accused of fighting for the group, and well as related women and children. Syria's Kurds have repeatedly called for their countries of origin to take them back, but these nations have been reluctant. The issue has taken on greater urgency, however, amid fears of a security vacuum since Trump's shock announcement in December that US troops would withdraw. "The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial," Trump said in a tweet, using another acronym for IS group. "The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them. The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go." 'European Solution' His tweet prompted a reaction from Paris, Brussels and Berlin. In Syria, "it is the Kurds who hold them (the French jihadists) and we have every confidence in their ability to keep them detained," French junior interior minister Laurent Nunez told the BFM news channel. If suspected jihadists return to France, "they will all be tried, and incarcerated," he said. Coalition member France this month opened the door to bringing back its citizens. A French source told AFP an estimated 150 French nationals, including 90 children, could be brought back to France, but authorities have not confirmed any planned transfer. In Belgium, justice minister Koen Geens called for a collective "European solution" to the problem of foreign fighters, urging a solution that carries the least security risks. "We currently have mothers and children in northern Syria, but also some fighters who are known," he told Belgian public television network VRT. In Germany, foreign ministry sources said "the federal government is examining options to enable German citizens to leave Syria, especially in humanitarian cases". Thousands of people have streamed out of the so-called "Baghouz pocket" in recent weeks, but hundreds of civilians are believed to still be inside. At a collection point for new arrivals outside Baghouz on Sunday, dozens of tents and a few trucks sat empty. Earlier in the week, the area had been thronging with people -- women and children, but also suspected jihadists led to one side. "It's been two days since anyone came out," an SDF fighter told AFP. 'Human Shields' SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said IS group had blocked roads out of its holdout, preventing those remaining from escaping to safety. "Daesh has sealed off all the streets" but up to 2,000 civilians could still be inside, he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS group. A spokesman for the US-led coalition said IS group was using these women and children as "human shields". "Civilians who have escaped are reporting ISIS is using them as human shields and killing innocent civilians in order to intimidate others from trying to leave," Sean Ryan said. Trump on Friday promised announcements linked to "the eradication of the caliphate" within 24 hours, but a top SDF commander then warned the battle would take a few more days. Beyond Baghouz, IS group still has thousands of fighters and sleeper cells scattered across several countries. In Syria, it retains a presence in the vast Badia desert, and has claimed deadly attacks in SDF-held territory. "Over the past month, more than one foreign sleeper cell was arrested in multiple areas in Syria," spokesman Bali said. Any withdrawal would leave Syria's Kurds exposed to a long-threatened attack by neighbouring Turkey, which views Kurdish fighters as "terrorists". They have scrambled to seek a new ally in the Damascus government after spending most of Syria's civil war working towards self-rule. Eight years into the conflict that has killed more than 360,000 people, President Bashar al-Assad's government controls nearly two-thirds of the country. But the SDF hold around a third of the country still beyond its control. Short link: Hate Fest In Warsaw By Eric Margolis February 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Warsaw, Poland is not a fun place to visit in darkest February, but that is where the US just staged an anti-Iranian jamboree of 60 client states that brought derision and scorn from Europeans and much of the Mideast. The point of this cynical exercise was to lay the diplomatic groundwork for an anti-Iranian coalition to act as a fig-leaf for an upcoming attack on Iran planned by President Donald Trump and his close ally, Israels Benjamin Netanyahu. The real question is who is calling the shots in bleak Warsaw, Trump or Bibi Netanyahu? It seems to many that the Israeli tail is again wagging the American dog. This is thanks to the power of Americas born-again evangelicals, hoodwinked into believing that a Greater Israel is somehow a key part of the Second Coming of Christ. A Fox News poll this week finds that a quarter of these credulous folks believe that God actually summoned Donald Trump to become president. This may even be more than the number of Americans who believe that Elvis is still alive. More proof that the Republicans have pretty much become a theological party. The three horseman of the hard right Republican Apocalypse, Vice president Mike Pence, Insecurity advisor John Bolton, and State Secretary Mike Pompeo (who reportedly keeps an open bible on his desk) joined their voices to the Warsaw jamboree to excoriate Iran for being a sponsor of terrorism, and a danger to world peace and stability. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The never understated Bibi Netanyahu, whose nation has at least 100 nuclear weapons, claimed Iran, which has no nukes and feeble armed forces, was planning a second Holocaust for Israel. An over-excited Netanyahu even tweeted that the Warsaw meeting was preparing for `war with Iran. He was forced to retract his tweet. But he did get to sit next to the delegate from war-torn Yemen, a stooge put into place by the Saudis and Emiratis whose aggression against Yemen has so far cost hundreds of thousands of lives, mass starvation and epidemics. This week a newly energized US House of Representatives voted for an end to their nations support for the Saudi-led war in the Mideasts poorest nation. The Senate, still controlled by Republican Crusaders, will be likely to vote down the sensible House proposal. Another participant at Warsaw was the largest Arab nation, Egypt. This nation just extended the rule of its military dictator, Field Marshall al-Sisi, to 2034. It was Sisi, backed by Saudi money, who overthrew Egypts first democratic government in history, killing and jailing thousands. In a slap in the face to Washington, Europes leaders, France, Germany and the European Union government, either refused to attend the Warsaw hate-fest against Iran or sent low-level paper-passers. Ironically, while Trumps people were fulminating against Iranian terrorism, it was Iran that was the victim of terrorist attacks. An attack from a Pakistan-based Sunni Jaish al-Adl extremist group linked to the CIA killed 27 soldiers and wounded a similar number. Iran has been the target of constant attacks since its 1979 revolution by groups linked to the US, and from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other US regional vassals. Trumps lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is even a long-term lobbyist for the hyper-violent Marxist Iranian extremist group, the MEK which was even branded a terrorist group by the US government. The Warsaw jamboree was also supposed to set the stage for Trumps much ballyhooed Mideast peace plan. Run by son-in-law Jared Kushner, the full plan is expected to be released in April, right after Israeli elections. It will likely consist of trying to buy off Palestinian land claims with US taxpayer money and some cash from the Saudis. Americas Arab client states in the region will all provide polite applause. The Warsaw jamboree produced no evident results and left the US even more isolated than before. Europe is moving ahead with a financial mechanism to permit trade with Iran that circumvents US sanctions. US intelligence itself reports that Iran is not working in nuclear weapons. Europe wants to trade with Iran. Americas anti-Iran campaign has just suffered another blow. This after Washington badly damaged relations with China and Canada over the arrest of the daughter in Vancouver of the founder of Huawei over charges it traded with Iran. Most non-Americans view this as an outrage. But the later-day Crusaders around Trump dont seem to care that they are damaging Americas reputation and making a mess of its foreign policy. Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune the Los Angeles Times, Times of London, the Gulf Times, the Khaleej Times, Nation Pakistan, Hurriyet, Turkey, Sun Times Malaysia and other news sites in Asia. ericmargolis.com Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2019 Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here Understanding Why Iranians Bash the U.S. Government By Jacob G. Hornberger February 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Two days ago, the New York Times carried an article by Times journalist Thomas Erdbrink entitled, For Iran, a Grand Occasion to Bash the U.S. , which was about Irans celebration of the 40th anniversary of its revolution in 1979. The article included the following sentence, And like some evil doppelganger, the United States was omnipresent, despite having broken all ties with Iran in 1981. Unfortunately, Erdbrink failed to point out two things: One, it is understandable why the Iranian people bash the U.S. government, and, two, while the U.S. government may have broken diplomatic ties with Iran, it has nonetheless continued to use economic sanctions to target the Iranian people with impoverishment and death as a way of hopefully effecting another regime change within the country. First things first though. When the Times refers to bashing the U.S., it makes a common mistake by conflating the U.S. government and our nation. Actually, they are two separate and distinct entities, a phenomenon best reflected by the Bill of Rights, which expressly protects the citizenry (i.e., our country) from the U.S. government. The distinction is important because the Iranian people love Americans. They just hate the U.S. government. And when one considers what the U.S. government has done to Iranians and continues to do to Iranians, which, unfortunately, many Americans dont like to think about, it is not difficult to understand the deep enmity that Iranians have toward the U.S. government. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter In 1953, the CIA, which is one of three principal parts of the national-security branch of the federal government, secretly initiated a regime-change coup in Iran, one that not only ousted from power the democratically elected prime minister of the country, Mohammed Mossadegh, but also destroyed Irans experiment with democracy. Thats ironic, of course, given that U.S. officials are always reminding people how enamored they are with democracy. Why did the CIA initiate this regime-change operation? Because the U.S. national-security establishment was convinced that there was a worldwide communist conspiracy to take over the United States and the rest of the world, a conspiracy that was supposedly based in Moscow, Russia. (Yes, that Russia!) What did that supposed worldwide conspiracy have to do with Mossadegh? The CIA was convinced that Mossadegh was leaning left because he had nationalized British oil interests, which, needless to say, had not sat well with British oil companies. Therefore, the CIA concluded, Mossadegh could conceivably be a secret agent for this supposed worldwide communist conspiracy that was supposedly based in Russia. Upon ousting Mossadegh from power, the CIA made the Shah of Iran its supreme dictator in Iran. He turned out to be one of the most cruel and brutal tyrants in the world, with the full support of the CIA and the rest of the U.S. national-security establishment. In fact, the CIA helped organize and train the Shahs tyrannical enforcement agency, the SAVAK, which was a combination Gestapo, KGB, Pentagon, NSA, and CIA. For the next 25 years, the Shah and the CIA-trained and CIA-supported SAVAK ruled Iran with a brutal and oppressive iron fist. Indefinite detention, brutal torture, kangaroo trials, and executions were hallmarks of the Shahs regime. Of course, from the standpoint of the U.S. government, the Shah was a kind and friendly ruler, one who was a loyal partner and ally of the U.S. government. From the standpoint of U.S. officials, the Shah and his SAVAK were just displaying the law and order mentality within the country that characterized all U.S.-supported foreign dictators. In 1979, the Iranian people had had enough of the Shahs, the SAVAKs, and the CIAs brutal tyranny and oppression. Thats when they decided to revolt, violently. If their revolution had failed, there would have been a horrific backlash involving mass arrests, incarceration, torture, kangaroo trials, and executions at the hands of the Shah and his CIA-trained and CIA-supported SAVAK. But the revolution succeeded, much to the chagrin of U.S. officials, who have never forgiven the Iranian people for ousting the CIAs man from power. Unfortunately, however, the Iranian people were unable to restore the democratic experiment that the CIA had destroyed some 26 years before. Iranians ended up with another brutal dictatorship, this one a religious theocracy. Ever since the Iranian revolution, U.S. officials have never ceased their efforts to effect another regime change in Iran, one that would bring another pro-U.S. dictator into power, one who would be permitted to wield totalitarian power over the Iranian people in return for loyal support of the U.S. Empire in foreign affairs. Thats what the U.S. sanctions against Iran are all about. The sanctions target the Iranian people with impoverishment, suffering, and even death in the hopes that they will initiate a violent revolution against their government or, alternatively, in the hope of bringing a collapse of the Iranian government, or, alternatively, in the hope of inciting a pro-U.S. coup within the regime, or, alternatively, in the hope of provoking a regime-change war between Iran and the United States. The Iranian people are obviously the pawns in this process. Like with other U.S. regime-change operations (e.g., Iraq, Chile, Guatemala, Libya, Afghanistan, etc.), no amount of death, suffering, and impoverishment among the Iranian people is considered too high. When asked in 1996 whether the deaths of half-a-million Iraqi children (yes, children!) from the U.S. sanctions were worth U.S. regime-change efforts in Iraq, the response of U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright reflects the current mindset towards the massive suffering and death of the Iranian people from U.S. sanctions: I think this is a very hard choice, but the pricewe think the price is worth it. Is it any surprise why Iranians are bashing the U.S. government and President Trump as Iranians celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ouster of the cruel and brutal tyrant that the CIA installed and trained in their country? Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. This article was originally published by " Future of Freedom Foundation " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here Anti-semitism vigilantes are feeding the far-right By Jonathan Cook February 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Has anyone else noticed how almost anything you say nowadays if its leftwing can suddenly be cited as proof of your anti-semitism? That is, if you havent already been denounced as a Kremlin stooge. Oppose the regular neoconservative regime-change operations, such as the latest one targeting Venezuela, and point to the long record of war crimes committed by one of its current architects, Elliott Abrams, and that apparently is probable evidence that youre an anti-semite One wonders why @IlhanMN seems to harbor such particular contempt for Elliott Abrams. from the Hebrew "Elijah," meaning "My God is Yahweh" the father of the Jewish people Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) February 13, 2019 Note, as Ilhan Omar recently did, that AIPAC, the well-financed and single-minded Israel lobby group, has so much influence in the US Congress that few representatives dare to publicly oppose it and youll come under relentless pressure to apologise for expressing an anti-semitic view. Never mind that the Senate just passed an AIPAC-driven law that blatantly violates Americans First Amendment rights by limiting their free speech specifically to protect Israel from those who propose a boycott in support of Palestinian rights. Want to criticise the bankers, who created a giant Ponzi scheme to enrich themselves and nearly destroyed the global economy and are now being allowed to do it all over again? Or advocate for socialism and argue that there is a class war being waged against us by a global elite, or the 1 per cent? Yes, youre definitely anti-semitic. If you believe Jeremy Corbyn should be allowed to lead Labour into the next general election, as he was elected to do by party members, and that it should be possible to deselect Blairite MPs who wish to foil such an outcome and want to allow Theresa May to continue driving Britain over the cliff-edge, you are patently an anti-semite. And of course, it hardly needs stating that if you criticise Israel , point out that its been running the longest occupation in modern history or cite any of the documented evidence that it practises apartheid against Palestinians, you must be irredeemably anti-semitic. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter After all, as Guardian commentator Jonathan Freedland keeps reminding us, his and many other Jews identities are so deeply invested in Israel that, when we criticise Israel, we attack them. Ergo, we hate Jews. Political language degraded Whats most obvious about this new supposed outbreak of bigotry among wide sections of western public opinion is that for the first time in history anti-semitism apparently has little or nothing to do with Jews except in the minds of those making the accusation. It is barely fanciful nowadays to imagine a time soon after Israel and Saudi Arabia go public with their new love affair and their continual plotting against Iran when it will be judged anti-semitic to criticise Riyadh for chopping off heads or the oil industry for setting the planet on fire. This degrading of political language to the point of absurdity isnt accidental. While those claiming to worry about anti-semitism are busy defaming every leftwing argument made against the current neoliberal order, real anti-semitism the rightwing kind that actually targets and sometimes kills Jews mostly gets a free pass. Real Jew-haters and Nazi sympathisers get the space to tell us how much they love Israel . Some of them, such as Hungarys leader, Viktor Orban, can even rely on a warm handshake from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If the left try to point out what is going on, or suggest that the charge of anti-semitism is being weaponised to silence us, we are accused of promoting a conspiracy theory and one that yes has echoes of anti-semitic tropes. The message of the anti-semitism witch-hunters to the left is simple: Shut up or be smeared over and over again. Obsessed with Jews It is worth pausing to note that there are plenty of neocons who are not Jewish promoting these endless humanitarian interventions that destroy other countries. There are also lots of lobbyists in Washington fighting for ugly causes who have nothing to do with Jewish communities or with Israel. There are lots of bankers helping to gamble away the economy who are not Jewish. In fact, a large majority of them arent. Most capitalists the people socialists tend to dislike arent Jews either. Most of the Blairite MPs trying to stop a Corbyn-led Labour party coming to power arent Jews, even if Luciana Berger thinks that anti-semitism is the only possible explanation for her constituency party wanting to be rid of her, rather than her threats to help set up a rival party. True, Israel has mostly Jews living in it (though many Jews do not). But it is not Jews who are being berated by critics of Israel, it is a fully fledged, and highly militarised, state with its own political interests to advance that may not, lets be frank, entirely mesh with those of other states or with the wider cause of human rights. Almost all criticism of Israel targets its army command, which is oppressing another people; its government, which refuses to engage in peace talks and to stop building illegal settlements; or its secret services, which carry out rogue operations on foreign shores and try to promote destabilising wars. In fact, it is those who fearmonger about a leftwing or new anti-semitism presumably to distinguish it from the actual harmful variety who are the ones obsessed with Jews. It is they, not us, who premise their arguments on the assumption that the wars they condone are promoted only by Jews, that the Israel lobby represents all Jews, and that the capitalist class are Jewish. Conversely it is they, not us, who imply that only the wrong kind of Jews are anti-Zionists, or that the only disloyal Labour MPs are Jewish ones, or that Jews are incapable of opposing regime change operations that advance US control over global oil resources. Weaponising anti-semitism In fact, these anti-semitism watchdogs no longer even bother to conceal the fact that their accusations of anti-semitism are intended as smears rather than as serious assessments of a rising tide of bigotry. Tony Greenstein, an anti-Zionist Jew expelled by Labour party bureaucrats after a concerted campaign to character-assassinate him as an anti-semite, took one of his accusers to court, the grossly misnamed charity the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, in a libel action. The CAA had claimed that Greenstein was a notorious anti-semite. Notorious, let us remember, means famous or well-known. So it should have proved a doddle for a well-funded charity that deals in little else but tackling anti-semitism to support its claim. Strangely, however, when given a chance to produce the evidence before the UK High Court, the CAA declined to do so . In fact, rather than use the standard defence against libel, claiming their remarks were a statement of fact or what used to be termed justification the CAA resorted to the much weaker defence of honest opinion. Traditionally in libel cases against media outlets, reporters have had to show they had a factual basis for their reporting, while opinion-writers could duck out under claims of fair comment, which allowed for muckraking and provocative viewpoints. Honest opinion allows you to state falsehoods, and puts responsibility on your victim to prove the near-impossible: that you did so maliciously. In short, you can defame as long as you can claim you did so in good faith. What the CAA has indicated is that when it describes someone as an anti-semite, it does not need to base its accusation on evidence (such as a clear statement of prejudice against Jews) but rather root it in hearsay or its own hunches. In other words, the CAA is consciously playing fast and loose with the definition at the heart of its mandate. It is hollowing out the meaning of anti-semitism to politicise it. The CAAs legal manoeuvres confirm that the charge of anti-semitism has indeed been weaponised to silence political dissidents just as critics, myself included, have long been claiming. Right kind of Jew Of course, the CAA is far from alone in pursuing this strategy. It is precisely the reason all those anti-semitism claims are being thrown around recklessly to silence anyone who wishes to disrupt the status quo the constant warmongering, the neoliberal rape of the planet, and the entrenchment of a carbon-based economy that threatens imminent collapse of a climate conducive to most life. Lots of rightwingers would like to use the anti-semitism smear to win political arguments in the more unruly, less predictable political environment we currently inhabit. But sadly for them, it only sounds credible when status-quo-loving centrist and rightwing Jews use it. Which is why we hear them using it so much. It was why TV gameshow assistant Rachel Riley was taken seriously rather ridiculed as she suggested to her hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers that Owen Jones , a diehard soft Zionist and fairweather Corbyn supporter, and Noam Chomsky (or Chomski , as Riley misspelt his name), a dissident Jewish intellectual, were anti-semites. Both were characterised by her as far left, which is now treated as synonymous with anti-semitic in the rightwingers playbook. Astoundingly, Riley was liberally spraying around the anti-semitism smear even as she made a series of anti-semitic statements during a TV interview that unusually failed to register on the radar of the usually vigilant anti-semitism watchdogs. She observed that she didnt look like a typical Jew (no hooked nose, Rachel?) and argued that her previous use of the expression Bloody Jews again wasnt anti-semitic. She also implied that criticism of Israel shouldnt be allowed because it was offensive to Jews (thereby conflating Jewish people with Israel, as well as denying anti-Zionist Jews a voice). But then again, Rachel Riley cant be anti-semitic because she, unlike Tony Greenstein, is the right kind of Jew. Shes on the right. The danger of an own goal There is a glaring danger in this abuse of the anti-semitism allegation, even if the CAA and Israel apologists like Riley refuse to see to it. And it is not just that their deceptions, their distortions of an important words meaning, cheapen and weaken its power when its needed most. Its not just that anti-semitism as a term of denunciation will be limp by the time those nasty European white supremacists remember that their love of Israel and their hatred of Jews can work hand-in-hand, as it did for earlier anti-semites like Britains Lord Balfour, by exiling local Jews to far-off Israel, where they will be welcomed by a state in a demographic war with the native Palestinian population. No, the biggest problem is that the constant misuse and abuse of the anti-semitism charge serves to reinforce popular rightwing anti-semitism, the kind of anti-semitism that actually endangers real-live Jews rather than simply antagonising an ethnic supremacist state that claims to represent Jews. If the anti-semitism watchdogs keep misusing anti-semitism misrepresenting the left by employing language that assumes all neocons are Jews, all lobbyists, all bankers, all capitalists they will feed the current revival of real, rightwing anti-semitism. When they behave as if disloyal Labour MPs are all Jews, when they encourage the perception that it is Jews, rather than Labour rightwingers, who are the ones rigging the political system on the left to their advantage, they risk pushing those dabbling with leftwing politics into the arms of the far-right. Their actions, inadvertently or not, will feed the idea that Jews control the economy, Jews control politics, Jews have all the money, Jews wage wars, Jews always get their way. The reality, of course, is that it is the powerful, a class of the super-rich, who control the world to their own advantage and the great majority of them are not Jewish. But the anti-semitism vigilantes arent concerned about nuance, about detail. Theyre too busy keeping the left down to notice that the far-right is rearing up behind them. Jonathan Cook is a Nazareth- based journalist and winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. No one pays him to write these blog posts. If you appreciated it, please consider making a donation https://www.jonathan-cook.net/supporting-jonathan/ https://www.jonathan-cook.net/ Do You Believe in the Deep State Now? The revelation that top Justice officials considered unseating Trump should answer that question for good. By Robert W. Merry February 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Be afraid. Be very afraid. Thats a natural reaction to the revelation of Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy FBI director, that top Justice Department officials, alarmed by Donald Trumps firing of former Bureau director James Comey, explored a plan to invoke the 25th Amendment and kick the duly elected president out of office. According to New York Times reporters Adam Goldman and Matthew Haag, McCabe made the statement in an NBC 60 Minutes interview to be aired on Sunday. He also reportedly said that McCabe wanted the so-called Russia collusion investigation to go after Trump for obstructing justice in firing Comey and for any instances they could turn up of his working in behalf of Russia. The idea of invoking the 25th Amendment was discussed, it seems, at two meetings on May 16, 2017. According to McCabe, top law enforcement officials pondered how they might recruit Vice President Pence and a majority of cabinet members to declare in writing, to the Senates president pro tempore and the House speaker, that the president was unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. That would be enough, under the 25th Amendment, to install the vice president as acting president, pushing aside Trump. But to understand what kind of constitutional crisis this would unleash and the precedent it would set, its necessary to ponder the rest of this section of the 25th Amendment. The text prescribes that, if the president, after being removed, transmits to the same congressional figures that he is indeed capable of discharging his duties, he shall once again be president after four days. But if the vice president and the cabinet majority reiterate their declaration within those four days that the guy cant govern, Congress is charged with deciding the issue. It then takes a two-thirds vote of both houses to keep the president removed, which would have to be done within 21 days, during which time the elected president would be sidelined and the vice president would govern. If Congress cant muster the two-thirds majority within the prescribed time period, the president shall resume the powers and duties of his office. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Its almost impossible to contemplate the political conflagration that would ensue under this plan. Citizens would watch those in Washington struggle with the monumental question of the fate of their elected leader under an initiative that had never before been invoked, or even considered, in such circumstances. Debates would flare up over whether this comported with the original intent of the amendment; whether it was crafted to deal with physical or mental incapacitation, as opposed to controversial actions or unsubstantiated allegations or even erratic decision making; whether such an action, if established as precedent, would destabilize the American republic for all time; and whether unelected bureaucrats should arrogate to themselves the power to set in motion the downfall of a president, circumventing the impeachment language of the Constitution. For the past two years, the country has been struggling to understand the two competing narratives of the criminal investigation of the president. One narrativelets call it Narrative Ahas it that honorable and dedicated federal law enforcement officials developed concerns over a tainted election in which nefarious Russian agents had sought to tilt the balloting towards the candidate who wanted to improve U.S.-Russian relations and who seemed generally unseemly. Thus did the notion emerge, quite understandably, that Trump had colluded with Russian officials to cadge a victory that otherwise would have gone to his opponent. This narrative is supported and protected by Democratic figures and organizations, by adherents of the Russia as Threat preoccupation, and by anti-Trumpers everywhere, particularly news outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times . This article was originally published by " The American Conservative " - Is Tulsi Gabbard for Real? America Is Ready for a Genuine Peace Candidate By Philip Giraldi February 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - 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. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter 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. Philip Giraldi is Ph.D., Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest. A former CIA Case Officer and Army Intelligence Officer who spent twenty years overseas in Europe and the Middle East working terrorism cases. He holds a BA with honors from the University of Chicago and an MA and PhD in Modern History from the University of London. This article was originally published by " Strategic Culture Foundation " - Tehran, Feb 17 (IBNS): In the wake of the Pulwama attack, Iran and Indian leaders have decided to cooperate in their fight against terrorism in the region. On her way to Bulgaria, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi during her brief stopover in Tehran. The Iranian leader tweeted after the meeting:"Iran & India suffered from two heinous terrorist attacks in the past few days resulted in big casualties. Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj the Indian FM, when she had a stopover in Tehran, we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough!." Iran & India suffered from two heinous terrorist attacks in the past few days resulted in big casualties. Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj the Indian FM, when she had a stopover in Tehran, we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough! pic.twitter.com/uvwlx45pZ6 Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) February 16, 2019 India was left shocked on Thursday when a terror attack in Pulwama area of Jammu and Kashmir which left 40 CRPF jawans killed. Apart from Indian leaders, the incident has been criticised by several countries across the globe. Image: Seyed Abbas Araghchi Twitter page Washington, Feb 17 (IBNS) US-based independent democracy watchdog organization Freedom House has asserted in its 2019 report that the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir enjoys more freedom than Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan itself, contrary to popular allegations levelled by the Imran Khan-led government in Pakistan. While Kashmir is again in global news after the deadly suicide attack by a Pakistan-sheltered terror group on Thursday in a convoy of Indian paramilitary forces killing 40 of the personnel, the report says Jammu & Kashmir state in India has scored 49, while Pakistan scored 39 and PoK a paltry 28 on the 100-point Freedom House Index. Even the self-declared state of Somaliland, a semi-desert autonomous region of civil war stiffen Somalia, has scored higher than Pakistan with a score of 43. The report, which corroborates several earlier reports and one by Human Rights Watch more than a decade ago, also labelled PoK as not free in terms of freedom enjoyed by its residents and the functioning of local institutes. While it labelled India a free country alongside countries like the US, several European nations, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and several Latin American countries. Interesting tidbit from Freedom House's "Freedom in the World 2019" report. Concludes Pakistani people are less free than Kashmiris in "Indian Kashmir." Freedom score US-86* India-75 "Indian Kashmir"-49 Somaliland-43* Pakistan-39 "Pakistani Kashmir"-28 Cambodia-26* *for context https://t.co/e0D3ZkFR5Y Jeff M. Smith (@Cold_Peace_) February 6, 2019 The Kashmir issue Since their independence in 1947 from their colonial master England, Indian and Pakistan have fought four major wars with each other over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Pre-1947, the Indian subcontinent was the single largest colony of England which had split into two nations; an Islamic Pakistan and a secular democratic India. Independent kingdoms neighbouring the two nations were given a choice to join either of the two. Kashmir was a Muslim majority princely-state bordering the northern mountainous fringes of both the nation whose Hindu king, Maharaja Hari Singh, chose to remain independent. But his hopes of remaining independent were dashed in October 1947 when the newly formed Pakistan sent in Muslim militia-tribesmen to capture the capital Srinagar. Hari Singh appealed to the Indian government for military assistance and fled to India. He signed the Instrument of Accession, ceding Kashmir to India on October 26th, 1947. Indian intervened to protect Kashmir and sought UN intervention after making significant military advancement. In the 1948 resolution, UN asked Pakistan to remove its troops, after which India was also to withdraw the bulk of its forces. Once this happened, a "free and fair" plebiscite was to be followed for the Kashmiri people to decide their future. India had gained a moral high-ground by taking the issue to the UN and was confident of winning the plebiscite, since the most influential Kashmiri mass leader, Sheikh Abdullah, was firmly on its side. On October 30, 1948, an emergency government was formed with Sheikh Abdullah as the Prime Minister. Pakistan violated the UN mandate and continued fighting, holding on to the occupied portion of Kashmir (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir PoK) under its control. On January 1, 1949, a ceasefire was agreed, with 65 percent of the territory under Indian control and the remainder with Pakistan. The ceasefire was intended to be temporary but the Line of Control remains the de facto border between the two countries. In 1957, Kashmir was formally incorporated into the Indian Union. It was granted special status under Article 370 of India's constitution, which ensures, among other things, that non-Kashmiri Indians cannot buy property there. Pakistan having lost all four major wars with India and in the past three decades has shifted its focus on promoting proxy wars and terrorism in PoK and Kashmir, with the support of communist China, which has kept Indian authorities on its toes. While India has straightened it democratic secular values and emerged as the fifth largest economy beating its erstwhile colonial master United Kingdom, Pakistan is reeling with socio-economic problems and faces a continuous power struggle between its military and legislature. The old Human Rights Watch report A report of Human Rights Watch dating back to more than a decade had said that in the "Azad Kashmir ..... the Pakistani government represses democratic freedoms, muzzles the press and practices routine torture." Based on research in Azad Kashmir (which means free Kashmir) and Pakistan, the 71-page report, With Friends Like These : Human Rights Violations in Azad Kashmir, uncovers abuses by the Pakistani military, intelligence services and militant organizations. Although azad means free, the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The Pakistani authorities govern Azad Kashmir with strict controls on basic freedoms. (Reporting by Suryodoy Mandal) 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. The Selectmen spend Saturday interviewing the three finalists for town administrator. Adams Holds Town Administrator Interviews Jennifer Tabakin, town manager of Grreat Barrington, says she has the experience the town needs. ADAMS, Mass. The Selectmen interviewed three finalists for town administrator on Saturday and may make a decision as early as Wednesday. The Selectmen convened bright and early Saturday morning to ask the candidates recommended to them by the screening committee a series of questions during hourlong interviews. "I think all three candidates are really qualified and ... this is the most important decision the Board of Selectmen will make," Chairman John Duval said. "It is a major decision for our community." The town has been without a permanent town administrator for more than a year. A first posting for the position failed to attract enough qualified candidates and the job was put on hold and reposted at the beginning of this year. First up on Saturday was Great Barrington Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin who told the board she had a lot to offer with her 20 years experience in government in both Great Barrington and New York City. "It is a beautiful town and a unique and special place ... I think I would do a good job because I have done a good job in Great Barrington," said Tabakin, who had informed her board last year that she would not seek to renew her six-year contract. "I have been very successful there ... and I am committed to public service and committed to developing my skills in public administration." As a Pittsburgh native, Tabakin said she saw her own community change as industry left. While in Great Barrington, she has seen the importance of a vibrant downtown and would like to achieve this in Adams by advertising the town to businesses as well as working with key property owners. She said this becomes even more critical with the impending closure of the Big Y Supermarket. "Bringing businesses here that is suitable in scale to Adams is important so it is not dominated by one industry," she said. "You need a mix of things and this is a wonderful community to live in so I think you just need to get the message out." Tabakin said she has already built strong relationships with the state delegation and other Berkshire County leaders so she can hit the ground running. She also has relationships with leaders in surrounding communities and noted there is a balance to strike between collaborating with others while also competing with them. Although she lives in Great Barrington, she does not see her commute as an issue. She said she plans to have a place in town to stay and that although with kids in school she does not plan to immediately uproot and move, this would be an option. Tabakin said she wants to be a part of the community and be there for the residents and the board. "I think it is important to get out of the office and to be a visible part of the community so you can provide an opportunity for residents to ask questions and have their voice heard," she said. "People need to see that the town administrator is listening and part of the conversation." Steve Neratko, who works in economic development for the town of Dover, Vt., said he has more than 11 years in planning, economic development and engineering, and wants to use his skills to better Adams. "I have taken on many different roles and responsibilities in government and for the last seven years I have been at the department head level or higher," he said. "I have a lot of experience working with boards, community organizations, elected officials, developers, and really have always been focused on coming up with a plan to move forward." Steven Neratko wants to tackle job growth and business development. Neratko said some of the challenges he would like to tackle in Adams were sparking job growth and attracting business. "I think it is important to have a vibrant downtown and it is a challenge in a lot of communities," he said. "I think you have to reinvent yourself and you can't have the same old retail business you have to look at other sources and experiences and bring people to the area." As he has done in other communities, he said he plans to work actively with the business community and keep an open line of communication with them so incidents such as the closing of the Big Y doesn't blindside the town. He said he would also like to send out brochures and advertise the town to attract business. Neratko also wants an open line of communication with the Selectmen and town departments and believes in having the most people in the room as possible. He said this comes in handy when setting goals and that, in the past, he has created as many as 10 committees to take on said goals. He believes it is important to set clear standards for employees while leaning on them for their experience. He added that it is also important to keep track of impending retirements and believes it is important to create efficiency in government. "I have kept an eye on the tax rate and it has been going up for quite a while and we would really have to look at our operations and how we can make them more efficient," he said. "We can work with our neighbors and look at procedures to make sure we are providing effective service for the tax dollar." The final interview of the day was Jay Green, an attorney and former North Adams administrative officer who said he wants to come back to Northern Berkshire County and serve Adams. "I have that fire in my belly to come back and participate and collaborate and see all of these projects through," he said. "My heart is telling me it is time to come back home ... and I want to contribute, do my part and use my skill to move this community forward." Green said he is a volunteer with the Berkshire Scenic Railway and, as the town administrator, he would want to continue this type of collaboration with other entities and help bring a vibrancy to Adams. For example, he said the town has to balance building codes so that both public safety and accessibility for a new business comes together. He said officials really need to advertise how great the town is. Jay Green points to his experience in North Berkshire as both an administrative officer and volunteer on the Berkshire Scenic Railway. "I think we need to make Adams visible because there is too much good here," he said. "I don't see any barrier other than our own fear why we can't achieve here. We need to sit down with the key individuals and work towards a goal. I am not going to tell you I am going to come in here with the proverbial silver bullet but I can promise you I will be part of it." Green said he believes in completely open communication with the Selectmen and other employees. He said he would have an open-door policy and would like to get to know all the town employees and familiarize himself with their departments as he did in North Adams. He did add that he would like to build in overlap and would pay attention to upcoming retirements so the town can continue forward when critical, experienced personnel leaves. He already has connections with Berkshire County and state leaders. He said he never left Berkshire County and still has strong relationships in North Adams and in Pittsfield. He could connect with the larger Berkshire County community as he has done in the past and help bring Adams into the conversation. "This community has tremendous potential its people, its community spirit, its assets and it is no different than Pittsfield or North Adams," he said. "We are the underdog and no one realizes that Adams is the third largest community in Berkshire County and I wish to contribute. I am not the panacea, the [Greylock] Glen will not be the panacea, the railroad is not the panacea it all has to come together to bring us forward." All three of the candidates felt the development of the Greylock Glen was a priority project and believed that a solid and constantly updated emergency management plan was important for preparedness for disasters. The Selectmen anticipate making a decision Wednesday after deliberation. Saudi Arabia's state arms producer and a French government-majority firm signed an agreement Sunday on a joint venture to boost the kingdom's navy. The memorandum of understanding between Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and France's Naval Group is aimed at providing the oil-rich Gulf state's navy with "state-of-the-art systems", a statement said. "Through design, construction, and maintenance activities, the joint venture will contribute significantly to further enhancing the capabilities and readiness of our Royal Saudi Naval Forces," SAMI boss Andreas Schwer said. A spokeswoman for Naval Group -- which is owned by the French state and French multinational giant Thales -- refused to give any more details. France, one of the world's biggest arms exporters, has sold equipment to Riyadh -- notably Caesar artillery guns and ammunition, sniper rifles and armoured vehicles. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has been one of the world's top arms buyers for the past several years. But in 2017, the kingdom's Public Investment Fund set up SAMI to manufacture arms locally with the fund expecting it to become one of the world's top 25 defence companies by 2030. * This story was edited by Ahram Online. Short link: A man who was being terminated from his job fatally shot five people at a factory in the suburbs of the US metropolis of Chicago on Friday before being killed by police, authorities said. Five officers were also wounded in the exchange of gunfire with the attacker at Henry Pratt Company manufacturing warehouse in Aurora , Illinois, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said at an evening press conference. The shooter was identified by police as company employee Gary Martin, 45, who was believed to be acting alone. We know that he was a 15-year veteran and information we have indicates that he was being terminated today, Ziman said. The first calls to police about the shooting came at 1.24pm (19:24 GMT) from inside the building and officers entered the plant at 1.28pm. The officers arrived on scene and were immediately confronted by Gary Martin, a 45-year-old man armed with a handgun. The male fired upon the officers as they arrived, Ziman said. The first officer was shot outside the building, and the others inside upon entering, she added, and officers searched the 29,000 square foot facility in an attempt to locate and stop the shooter. Officers ultimately confronted the offender inside the building at which time he fired at them. The officers returned fire killing the offender, Ziman added. Five employees were found dead inside the building and one is being treated in hospital for non-life threatening gunshot wounds. The deceased employees and the officers, who have non-life threatening injuries, have not been named. Police are searching Martins residence and an investigation is continuing at the factory. Aurora is a city of some 200,000 residents located 60km (37mi) west of downtown Chicago. The citys mayor called it a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. Its a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life. But we as a society cannot allow these horrific acts to become commonplace, he said. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who took office last month, joined Aurora officials at an earlier press briefing on the tragedy. There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors if their hopes, their dreams and their futures, he said. There are no words to express our gratitude to the officers who were wounded in the line of duty as they responded to the gravest kind of danger they could face. President Donald Trump reacted to news of the shooting with praise for the police response and an expression of sympathy for the victims and their loved ones. Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois, he wrote on Twitter. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you! The violence in Aurora came a day after the one-year anniversary of the massacre of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. California se enfrenta a lo que podria ser la variante de coronavirus mas contagiosa hasta la fecha, lo que ha llevado a las autoridades a advertir que los residentes se enfrentan a un riesgo importante si no se vacunan. 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 Friday, in the morning, at the Queensland Police Service Headquarters, Brisbane City, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey attended the official launch of Uniforms 4 Kids. In the afternoon, at Government House, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey hosted an afternoon tea and tour for the 2019 Ship for World Youth, and the Governor addressed guests. In the evening, at M.S. Nippon Maru, Hamilton Cruise Terminal, His Excellency attended the Ship for World Youth 2019 Official Welcome Reception, and the Governor addressed guests. Milwaukee, WI (53187) Today Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Showers and scattered thunderstorms. Low 63F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. UN envoy Martin Griffiths arrived on Sunday in the capital, Sanaa, to discuss the ``complex situation'' in and around the key port city of Hodeida, Yemeni security officials said. The Houthi rebels said their leader, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, met with Griffiths to discuss the implementation of peace deals from December talks with Yemen's internationally recognized government. In Sweden in December, the two sides agreed to confidence-building measures, including to a cease-fire in Hodeida and the exchange of thousands of prisoners. But the implementation of those deals has been slow and marred by violence. Separately, Yemeni security officials said a bout of fighting between Houthi rebels and tribal fighters in the northern province of Hajjah has killed more than 85 combatants in the past two days. The officials said weeks of fighting has displaced dozens of families from the Hajour tribe in the Kushar district in Hajjah. They say the tribe sought help from the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized government in the fight against the Houthis. The coalition bombed the rebels who sieged the district, the officials said. The officials spoke anonymously as they weren't authorized to brief journalists. Yemen, the poorest Arab country, plunged into civil war in 2014, when the Iran-backed rebels captured the capital, Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition intervened a year later. The fighting has taken a terrible toll on civilians, with thousands killed amid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Millions suffer from food and medical care shortages and the country has been pushed to the brink of famine. Short link: Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi held a meeting on Sunday with the Supreme Council of Armed Forces following his return from Germany. Short link: Moreno Valley Police Department(LOS ANGELES) -- Two brothers have been charged in connection with murder of a 16-year-old girl who went missing in Southern California last month. Owen Shover, 18, and Gary Shover, 21, were charged on Friday in relation to the murder of Aranda Briones, of Moreno Valley, who has not been seen since Jan. 13, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. Briones' last known location was at a community park in Moreno Valley, where friends said she had been dropped off that evening. Her family reported her missing the next day. The brothers were taken into custody on Tuesday, with Owen Shover charged with murder and his brother charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Briones' body has yet to be found. According to the Riverside County Sheriffs Office, Briones and Owen Shover were childhood friends who had recently reconnected. The sheriffs office said the Shovers were suspects early in the investigation and that Briones family had pointed them in their direction. She did have a bad choice of friends, I'll be honest, you know everybody does, Briones uncle, Matthew Horstkotte, told Los Angeles ABC station KABC last month. Everybody makes mistakes, but you know one thing I want? I just want her home safe. Owen Shover, who was the person last seen with Briones, told sheriffs that he dropped her off at a park on Jan. 13 and had not seen her since. We destroyed the timeline of events that he gave us, Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Vasquez said, and replaced it with what we knew to be true based on video surveillance footage. The sheriffs office expanded the investigation and began to cooperate with the FBI and the homicide unit on Jan. 20. On Feb. 11, authorities served a search warrant at the home of Owen and Gary Shover in Hesperia, California, about 40 minutes from Moreno Valley, and arrested the brothers. The sheriffs office said evidence was collected at their residence, but did not specify what was found. The investigation is still active and the sheriffs office is still seeking the publics help to locate Briones. We still dont have a body, said Vasquez. We still dont know where she is. The brothers are being held without bail and will make their next court appearance on March 1. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, has used satellite technology provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) to uncover why the Agung volcano in Bali erupted in November 2017 after 50 years of dormancy. Their findings, published today in the journal Nature Communications, could have important implications for forecasting future eruptions in the area. Two months prior to the eruption, there was a sudden increase in the number of small earthquakes occurring around the volcano, triggering the evacuation of 100,000 people. The previous eruption of Agung in 1963 killed nearly 2,000 people and was followed by a small eruption at its neighboring volcano, Batur. Because this past event was among the deadliest volcanic eruptions of the 20th Century, a great effort was deployed by the scientific community to monitor and understand the re-awakening of Agung. During this time, a team of scientists from the University of Bristols School of Earth Sciences, led by Dr Juliet Biggs used Sentinel-1 satellite imagery provided by the ESA to monitor the ground deformation at Agung. Dr Biggs said: 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. In the new study, carried out in collaboration with the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation in Indonesia (CVGHM), the team detected uplift of about 8-10 cm on the northern flank of the volcano during the period of intense earthquake activity. Dr Fabien Albino, also from Bristols School of Earth Sciences, added: 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. Reference: Fabien Albino, Juliet Biggs, Devy Kamil Syahbana. Dyke intrusion between neighbouring arc volcanoes responsible for 2017 pre-eruptive seismic swarm at Agung. Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08564-9 Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Bristol. The worlds 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 Earths 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 todays 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 humanmade 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. Were 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. Its 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 Earths 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 its 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 theyre 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 Earths 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 Earths 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 Earths crust spreads or collides, creating ideal conditions for the formation of deep-sea carbon dioxide reservoirs. Only about one-third of the oceans 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 dont have estimates of the size of these or which ones are particularly vulnerable to destabilization, Stott said. Its 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 humanmade greenhouse gases. Oceans absorb nearly all the excess energy from the Earths atmosphere, and as a result they have been warming rapidly in recent decades. Over the past quarter-century, Earths 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 governments 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 cant turn it off, Stott said. Moreover, other similar events have happened in the distant past, helping shape the Earths environment over and over again. In earlier research, Stott discovered a large, carbon anomaly that occurred 55 million years ago. It disrupted the oceans 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 Earths 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 dont 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 didnt know these reservoirs existed until recently, and we didnt know they affected global change in a significant ways. This study shows that weve 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). Reference: Lowell Douglas Stott, Kathleen M. Harazin, Nadine B. Quintana Krupinski. Hydrothermal carbon release to the ocean and atmosphere from the Eastern Equatorial Pacific during the Last Glacial Termination. Environmental Research Letters, 2019; DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aafe28 Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Southern California. 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. 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." Egypt condemned on Sunday a terrorist attack that targeted a security convoy in the disputed region of Kashmir, killing 44 policemen and injuring others. In an official statement, Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez expressed his sincerest condolences to the families of the victims, hoping for a speedy recovery for the injured. The statement reiterated Egypt's call to intensify international efforts to eradicate terrorism. The car bomb attack, carried out on Thursday, was claimed by Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad and carried out by a 20-year-old Kashmiri man. It is the deadliest on Indian security forces in decades. The attack has inflamed tensions between India and Pakistan, with Islamabad stressing that it has no connection to the militant group that carried out the bombing. Short link: . , , . , 16 ? , , . , ... Inclement weather caused the public input session in the search for a new superintendent for Blue Earth Area Schools to be rescheduled twice. But it has done little to delay the timeline for finding the person to be the next superintendent of BEA. The public input session was finally held on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the media center located in the High School. Harold Remme and Eric Bartleson of the South Central Service Cooperative were present at the meeting to lead the discussion. Before the input session began, Remme took a few minutes to update those in attendance on the current status of the search. Remme informed the group there were currently eight people who had submitted applications for the superintendents position and had filled out all of the necessary paperwork. In addition, two other people have been actively inquiring about the position and may also apply. Remme said there could be as many as 12 applicants by the end of the filing period on Feb. 28. Remme explained he has had profile meetings with school board members, business leaders, teachers, department heads at the school and students. A list of potential candidates will be presented for board approval on March 11. March 13 is the date set for the School Board and the community committee to interview up to six candidates. The goal is to determine the finalists by the end of the day. The final interviews would take place on March 20 and/or March 21 depending on the number of finalists to be interviews. Following the final interviews, the board will meet and determine which candidate will be given the job offer. Once the assembled group was up to speed on the selection process, Remme and Bartleson began discussion about the school district. Participants at the meeting stated some of the strengths of the school district were the sense of community within the district and the fiscal strength of the school over the years. Those in attendance also said the school had a good variety of extra curricular activity programs and had been good at keeping up with technology. The quality of the staff working at the school was also listed as a strength. When it came to the challenges facing the school district, almost all of the responses could be traced back to concerns about declining enrollment. People at the meeting said declining enrollment meant declining finances which could make it more difficult to retain staff and keep programs in place. The task of recruiting teachers to a rural environment was also listed as a challenge. Finally, there was concern for the ability of the district to meet the emotional and physical needs of the students. The topic of what needs to be done to improve academic achievement and operation of the school was next on the agenda. Participants felt there was a need to find a balance between technology and more traditional teaching methods. It was also stated there needs to be a continuity of the curriculum to better prepare students for college. In addition, there was concern over the need for passage of a levy to ensure programs are kept which promote academic achievement. The final question for discussion concerned the skills and abilities which a new superintendent must possess. People at the meeting said they wanted someone with experience who was from outside the area and could take a fresh look at the district. It was also important to the group the person is trustworthy, visible and accessible in the community and has good communication skills. The possibility of hiring someone who has previous experience as a teacher and principal was seen as a plus. As the meeting came to a close, Remme reminded the group, It doesnt make any difference how manny candidates you have as long as you have the right one. United South Central may have to deal with their water retention issue on their own after a special School Board meeting yielded minimal results in talking with neighboring farmers with regard to sharing drainage tile. Chuck Brandel, vice president of ISG, an environmental engineering firm, led the meeting, with Faribault County drainage manager Merissa Lore and drainage water management technician Dustin Anderson in attendance, as well as county commissioners Tom Warmka and Bill Groskreutz. USC School Board members Dale Stevermer, Brad Heggen, and Tom Legred joined with superintendent Keith Fleming to talk with several area farmers. Brandel provided those in attendance with five options for the storm water drainage issue on the USC?School site. All land owners in the Faribault County Ditch 90 watershed were welcome to attend and hear Brandels suggestions. Option one was to provide a direct outlet to USCs retention pond at an existing design of .25 inches per day, installing 200 feet of six inch tile. This option would be accomplished by a Petition for a Lateral, and would only benefit the school property with its limited capacity of 35 acres of farm land drainage originally in the watershed. It would drain the ponds down in six days after a large rain event, with a net benefit cost of $59,166. Option two discussed a size buried tile at .50 inches per day or better and 1.0 inch per day for open ditch crossings. This improvement option would consist of 1,350 feet of open ditch cleaning, and would replace existing field crossing with 60-inch RCP culvert tile. Mainline tiles would also be replaced up to the proposed retention pond on USC property. This would require 900 feet of 36-inch tile, 3,800 feet of 30-inch tile, or 3,200 feet of 24-inch tile, allowing the retention pond to drain down to its original design in three days after a large rain event with an improvement cost that comes to $558,740. Option three was a buried tile that would pull water out at .75 inches per day or better and would consist of 1,350 feet of open ditch cleaning, replacing existing field crossing with 60-inch RCP culvert, and a Mainline tile installation up to USC pond of 900 feet of 42-inch tile, 2,300 feet of 36-inch tile, 3,600 feet of 30-inch tile, or 1,100 feet of 24-inch tile, draining the pond in 2.5 days after a large rain event. The improvement cost of option three would be $621,410. Option four would consist of 1,350 feet of open ditch cleaning, with mainline tile installation and branch B tile installation of anywhere from 800 feet of 12-inch tile to 5,950 feet of 24-inch tile; this proposed option would see an improvement cost of $959,722. Option five was to use existing eight-inch private tile located to the west of the stormwater basin that is connected to the CD 90 system. The school has connected to the tile and now has a direct outlet for its stormwater facility. Brandel states videos were also presented of televising of the existing CD 90 system from 2005, and stressed that each of these options were just ideas for the watershed owners to discuss. Providing a direct outlet was recommended in all of the improvement options presented by ISG. The direct outlet allows the storm water basin to drain down after rain events, said Brandel. As mentioned in ISGs preliminary review, the stormwater basin was originally designed to outlet through two 24-inch culverts. Therefore, a hydrologic model of the pond should be completed with the new eight-inch outlet to ensure that the 100-year storm event does not back up into the school. The hydrologic model will determine if the existing storage is adequate to handle the 100-year-storm event and if the emergency overflow needs to be modified to ensure stormwater does not back up into the school, Brandel shared. Each option came with deep costs that concerned the shared landowners greatly. Who put this thing (school building) in a hole? asked one concerned farmer. You put a school in a hole. Who shot this? Who surveyed it? Nobody talked to me about this, and now we got to pay for it? Why are we getting penalized for USC?getting put in a hole? Who screwed up? Its not us. Many landowners brought their own ideas to the table, but were not acted upon due to laws and regulations set by the state of Minnesota. We have to go through the proper procedures and rules, said Brandel. We could put a price tag on this for each farmer, stated Lore to the public. We would have to go through the county auditor, but it can be done. The old books are how its assessed now, so theres a chance those prices may not be accurate. My question is, stated one farmer. Why the school didnt talk to their engineer or architect with this problem. Anyone with eyes can see the school is sitting in low-lying land. Of course water is going to flow towards it. After some debate from landowners, USC School Board member Dale Stevermer stated that the school would petition for a lateral connection, with or without the watershed owners agreement, which would allow the school to have at least one outlet to get rid of its excess water. We need an outlet for this water regardless, said superintendent Keith Fleming. I think your liability lies with the engineer of this design, stated one woman. They designed this to work, its clearly not working, so your issue is with your engineers. After two hours of discussion, the meeting came to a close with a lot of questions still up in the air. It will be up to the USC School District to make the next move on where their water may go. Washington, MO (63090) Today Thunderstorms - some may contain locally heavy rain, especially during the morning hours. High 91F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Localized flooding is possible.. Tonight Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. A few storms may be severe. Low near 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Egyptian ambassador in Berlin Badr Abdel-Aati has asserted that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's speech at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) was widely welcomed by the European leaders, intellectuals and politicians of the world. In statements to Extra News TV on Sunday, Ambassador Abdel-Aati said that El-Sisi's participation in the MSC is a historic one, noting that his speech covered Egypt's vision regarding a number of issues, especially stability and security in Africa, the Middle East region and the world at large. Many participants at the MSC praised El-Sisi's vision as regards the challenges pertaining to terrorism and irregular migration. In regards to El-Sisi's meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the ambassador said the meeting was held in a very positive atmosphere, noting that both sides are fully satisfied with the level of relations between Egypt and Germany in the economic, trade and military fields. Short link: Get 25% off of the regular $65 annual All Access rate. With this subscription you will get: Digital access to ElPasoInc.com and archives (value $45) Print subscription home or business delivered (value $65) Book of Lists (annual rate only, value $50) El Paso Inc. Magazine (value $20) El Paso Kids Inc. Special sections - OR - Get 15% off of the regular $45 annual Digital-only rate. With this subscription you will get: Complete digital access to ElPasoInc.com. Lubbock, TX (79409) Today Mixed clouds and sun this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 98F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Isolated thunderstorms early, becoming mostly clear after midnight. Low 73F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%. If municipal dredging is proposed through an oyster ground thats actively used, VMRC must first make sure the dredging impacts the grounds as little as possible. Then the commission notifies the lessee, who can work out compensation with the city, or if they cant come to an agreement go into mediation, and then to the courts. Right now, on the beach itself, youll find discarded drink cans and some debris washing up. Look up, though, and you can see clear across the water to the ports and ships on the Southside. Look to the east, and you can see the Chamberlain on Fort Monroe. The suspects in remand custody in connection with vandalizing statues of the Buddha in several areas in the country were produced before Mawanella Magistrate Upul Rajakaruna and further remanded till February 27. One of the suspects is a woman. The eleven suspects on remand were produced in court by prison officers and four others by the CID. Another two suspects arrested for providing accommodation to the main suspects were produced in court and all of them were remanded. It was of significance that any lawyer of the Mawanella Court did not appear for the suspects. The first incident of vandalising Buddha statues was reported from Mawanella on December 24 and 25. One of the suspects, who was damaging a Buddha statue in Kadugannawa area was caught and handed over the Police by residents of the area. The Police said that he provided information on others involved. However the main suspect wanted in connection with the incident was yet to be arrested, the Police said.(Samana Wijeya Bandara) The Police today released a photograph of a suspect wanted in connection with an alleged fraud of Rs. 4.3 million. The Police said the suspect, Saman Kumara Jayasinghe, a resident of Tangalle, was allegedly defrauded monies from several individuals across the country promising that he would import motor cars. The Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau (CFIB) launched the investigation following a complaint. The Police requested the public to inform the Director, Fraud Investigation Bureau on 0112679593, or OIC Fraud Investigation Bureau on 0112673571 or 0112673954. Egypt's prison authorities have started procedures to release Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid known as Shawkan and 214 others who have served five-year prison terms for their involvement in a Muslim Brotherhood sit-in at Cairo's Rabaa El-Adaweya in 2013. Shawkan, 32, is a freelance photojournalist who was arrested in August 2013 while covering the dispersal of the Rabaa El-Adawiya sit-in, where supporters of ex-president Mohamed Morsi had gathered to protest his ouster. Shawkan was among 214 defendants who were convicted in 2018 on several charges including murder, attempted murder, assault on police and citizens, vandalism and the burning and destruction of public and private property. Shawkan and the other defendants are set to be released as the jail time they spent in pre-trial detention goes towards time served. Shawkan will be placed under five years probation after his release. Since his detention in 2013, many local and international human rights organisations have criticised Shawkan's imprisonment, saying he was merely doing his job as a freelance photojournalist when covering the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in. In April 2018, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) announced that Shawkan was selected to receive the 2018 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize. The choice of Mahmoud Abu Zeid pays tribute to his courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression, said Maria Ressa, president of the jury, UNESCO, in a media statement. Egypt's foreign ministry in a statement at the time that it regrets UNESCO's decision to award the prize to Shawkan. Short link: n Friday, US President Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency in the United States. The president is in search of a means to provide himself with funds to construct a 230-mile long wall between the US and Mexico. It is quite clear what he is trying to do. Just a few days ago, the US House of Representatives which is the legal body responsible for the allocation of funds to various programmes, refused to make a budgetary allocation of around $ 8 billion to him (Trump) to build a wall between the US and Mexico. According to Trump, the wall is absolutely necessary to keep the number of immigrants, whose numbers have been growing astronomically over the years from entering the US. The reality is that Trump is trying to circumvent the US Congress ruling, and thereby the US constitution itself, to make good on an election promise, which is based on false allegations, that hundreds of thousands of Latin American criminals -- most of whom are rapists, terrorists, and drug smugglers -- are trying to enter the US illegally. Statistics provided by US government offices themselves, show illegal immigration into the US has in fact drastically fallen. An opinion piece in the New York Times described the declaration of a national emergency by Trump as a Phoney Wall, Phoney emergency since it was, but a week ago, Trump himself asserted ...the wall is very, very, on its way. If this was so, how could the President claim to be addressing an emergency, the paper asked. Trump has been asking for this money over the past two years. Even at the time his own Republican Party was holding sway in the House, the President was unable to convince a majority of law-makers in the Republican-controlled House, that they should allocate billions of dollars to his pet border project. Last weeks bi-partisan expenditure Bill, which did not give Trump more money than it allocated to the border wall in December, which led to Trumps shutting down of several government departments was a particularly galling defeat and an embarrassment to Americas ageing President. Through his actions the US President is attempting to override Congress, and is directly undermining the US Constitution itself. As the Democratic Partys two most senior politicians, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer said, if the President is permitted to carry out his plan, he would at a stroke shred the constitution. Despite knowing the idiosyncrasies of the present US President it still comes as a shock that he simply declared a state of national emergency to, so-to-say mis- appropriate funds allocated to other programmes, just to suit one particular whim is shocking. One would not be surprised if such an action had taken place in a banana republic, but the fact is, it is occurring in the good-old USA, which often preaches good governance and transparency to us Asians and so-called Third World countries. Even worse President Trumps description of Latin American immigrants as rapists, drug-dealers and terrorists, stink of racism of the highest order. It gives credence to commonly held beliefs especially in Asia, Africa and Latin American countries that the US preaches one doctrine to the world, but practises quite another. To us in Sri Lanka, events now unfolding in the US, take us down memory lane, when in October last year, certain bizarre events took place effectively bringing the country to a near three-month stand-still. It took the Speaker of the House and the highest Court in the land to bring our erring politicians down to earth. According to media reports a similar pattern appears to be taking place in the US. Less than four hours after Trumps announcement of a national state of emergency, a government watchdog group filed suit, demanding that the Department of Justice hand over documents concerning the legal authority of the President to invoke emergency powers. Soon after, the State of California announced its intention to sue.On Thursday, even before the announcement was made, Protect Democracy and the Niskanen Centre announced plans to file on behalf of El Paso County and the Border Network for Human Rights. However, we are sure the US Constitution has sufficient checks and balances to stop run-away presidents. But sadly in our own little corner of the world, history seems to be repeating itself.Today we are hearing persons who should know better, whining that Independent Commissions are not appointing particular individuals whom they favour to sit in the highest Courts of our land. O tempora! o mores! President Maitripala Sirisena said that consumption of some imported milk power, would not be healthy for the population, despite the claims of individuals attempting to defend allegations that what was sold as milk powder was a mixture of lactose and animal fats. Addressing a ceremony on Friday to hand over the title deeds for plots of land to 10,000 farmers in Mahaweli Zones and to reward the farmers for their unstinted efforts to make the national food production campaign in 2018 a success, he said that milk powder importers should not be allowed to handle peoples health. Steps should be taken to boost liquid milk production in the country to resolve this issue, he said. Today about 15 countries consume imported milk powder. It is sad that Sri Lanka is one of them. A health hazard caused by imported milk powder has been gathering momentum and it had been the focus of attention in the political circles. The Speaker had dispelled the fears of Parliamentarians and said that they were given liquid milk and not milk powder. Meanwhile the Minister of Health had refuted the allegations against imported milk powder. I had been Minister of Health for five years and I did not allow the multinational company owners to enter the gate of my house or the Ministry. I still uphold that policy. I must tell the truth no matter they hate me. Today, drug-traffickers, liquor traders, and pharmaceutical importers hate me, the President said.(K.G.Karunaratne) A suspect had been arrested with Sri Lankan counterfeit currency notes valued over half million during a raid at Peragas Junction on the Biyagama Road. The police said the Organised Crimes Division officers arrested the suspect on possession of 38 counterfeit notes of Rs. 5,000, 300 counterfeit notes of Rs. 1,000 and 165 counterfeit notes of Rs. 500. The 40-year-old suspect, a resident of Pradeepagama in Malwana was identified as Abdul Khadar Neina Mohammed. He was produced in the Mahara Magistrate's Court.(DS) Video by RM Elizabeth City, NC (27909) Today Scattered thunderstorms during the morning becoming more widespread this afternoon. High 82F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Elizabeth City, NC (27909) Today Thunderstorms likely this morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 83F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. I always come back to even before this situation, when you look at the recent history of our cities and the governance of our cities, theyve all been plagued by some form of mismanagement or corruption, Tesei said. I just look at this more holistically and say irrespective of the policy of redistribution, lets look at who were giving the money to. Otherwise, its just perpetuating bad behavior." Search Keywords: Short link: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi conferred on Sunday at his residence here with Vice President of Daimler AG Group Eckart von Klaeden on means of boosting cooperation between Egypt and the group.Member of Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management Markus Schafer attended the meeting.Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said the meeting took up Mercedes plans to resume its activities for car production and assembly in Egypt.They also discussed ways to develop the company's activities to include projects for electric cars, smart roads and transportation in the smart cities especially buses that could be used for transportation on highways, taking into consideration the increase of the local components and the value added taxes along with exportation to regional and international markets, added the spokesman.The spokesman noted that Sisi voiced welcome of a statement released last month by Mercedes about resuming its activities in Egypt, asserting that Cairo was keen on intensifying cooperation with the group in light of the state's policy of expansion in the automobiles industry.He said that the company officials expressed strong appreciation of the level of cooperation with the Egyptian government towards resuming the company's activities in Egypt, noting that they highly value the Egyptian market for its importance as a gateway to regional and international markets. More than 1,500 cities and counties across the nation, including about a dozen Connecticut towns, are also suing Purdue for what they say is the company's outsized role in the opioid crisis. Unlike the Connecticut and Massachusetts lawsuits, these Connecticut towns are also suing other opioid makers, as well distributors, pharmacies and even some doctors they say have helped fuel the nation's addiction to painkillers. Parents with religious objections to vaccinations can get an exemption by signing a statement, which must then be acknowledged by a judge, lawyer, notary public, town clerk or school nurse, among a few others. The bill would simply remove school nurses from the list of people who can sign off on parents statements. It also adds clergy to the list of people who can acknowledge them. Eva Greenwood, 88, of Jamaica Plain, MA, peacefully transitioned from life on February 13, 2019 at home. She was the widow of Fred H. Greenwood, to whom she was married 54 years. Born in Vienna, Austria, she was the only child of the late Martha and Max Pollenz. Eva was a survivor of the Holocaust-era and was evacuated from Vienna in March 1939 on the Kindertransport. She was eventually reunited with her parents. They settled in Queens, New York. Eva earned a BA from NYU. She met her future husband when they were camp counselors at Children's Colony International Camp, a summer camp for Jewish refugees. Eva loved to travel the world with her husband and dear friends. A special trip to the Galapagos is where she encountered the Blue-footed Booby, who she delighted in imitating. At the 2017 Boston Women's March, her first political demonstration, Eva was interviewed by the Jewish Journal. She told the reporter "It made me so happy just to be there. It was a whole new thing for me". Eva was a kind, loyal and generous woman who loved classical music, gazing at the ocean, searching for seashells, and, most importantly, family, especially gatherings in her home. Eva leaves her three children and their spouses, Susan Greenwood and Arnie Lucinda Stewart of Jamaica Plain, MA, Jeffrey and Della Greenwood of Simsbury, CT and John and Karen Greenwood of Bellmore, NY; five grandchildren, Sarah Fleming of PA, Amanda Caroca of NC, Alyssa Berlavski of NY, Michael Greenwood of NY and Elijah Greenwood-Stewart of Jamaica Plain, MA, six great-grandchildren, and many loving relatives and friends of different generations. She also leaves her dearest friend, Lydia Saderman, who she met in 3rd grade and they have remained lifelong 'sisters'. Funeral services will be held on Sunday February 17, 2019 at 10 am in the Chapel of the Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT. Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery at 200 Whitman Avenue, West Hartford. The family will receive relatives and friends at the Jamaica Plain, MA home of Susan Greenwood and Arnie Stewart on Sunday February17th from 3-9pm. The family would like to thank Good Shepherd Community Care and First Light Homecare for their loving and devoted care extended to Eva. Weinstein Mortuary 640 Farmington Avenue Hartford 06105 860-233-2675 Website In a recent published interview, Guaido also pointedly did not rule out the possibility of military intervention in Venezuela. While he also said he prefers a peaceful outcome, Guaido told a Uruguayan publication that justification exists in Venezuelan law for an international force to restore the constitutional order and protect the live[s] of our citizens. The lighting, sound and staging likewise do more with less. There is the same openness and airiness that was used to good advantage on the Rep stage for the previous show there, "Seven Guitars." A busier set would likely give away some surprises. And "Imogen Says Nothing," a fierce feminist fable has plenty to say about sexism, classism, literary criticism, canonism and chauvinism, is nothing if not full of surprises. Bear with it. Raffas Restaurant was a fixture on Main Street for 41 years from 1951 to 1992 when Frank Raffa left Hartfords Dinty Moores restaurant and moved to Glastonbury. The restaurant, known for its greenhouse and hanging globes, was a favorite for families and hosting Democratic fundraisers for governors along with state senators and representatives. It was also home to W.B. Codys before being torn down in the early 2000s. Today Cloudy early with scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 86F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. Tonight Thunderstorms likely. Low 69F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Tomorrow Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Egypt's Minister of Agriculture Ezz El-Din Abu Sitit said Sunday the ministry has taken precautions to face an upcoming swarm of desert locusts in the Red Sea area, following warnings Friday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "As a precautionary procedure, the Central Department for Pest Control in the Ministry of Agriculture is coordinating with agencies and authorities in the country to intensify the environmental survey of desert locusts to stop any locust attack that may affect Egypt's agricultural production," Abu Sitit said in a media statement Sunday. The minister added that the department is working to stop the advance the swarm of desert locusts to the Nile Delta and Nile Valley as well as newly reclaimed agricultural land in the desert. The FAO issued a warning Friday of a possible outbreak of desert locusts, originating in Sudan and Eritrea and spreading rapidly on both sides of the Red Sea, in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The minister added that Egypt is following the movement of the locusts and that the situation is currently stable. Mohamed El-Kersh announced Sunday that the Ministry of Agriculture took its precautions to fight the desert locusts through 54 bases and central operation rooms across the country. According to FOA's statement issued Friday, recent heavy rains and cyclones triggered a surge in the desert locust population in December 2018 in Sudan and Eritrea. The statement said that control operations treated nearly 85,000 hectars since December of which 30,000 hectares were treated in the past two weeks in Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The next three months will be critical to bring the locust situation under control before the summer breeding starts, FAO locust expert Keith Cressman said in the statement. The FAO will hold a meeting in Jordan next week with affected countries to review the current situation with the aim of intensifying survey and control operations. In an e-mailed comment to Reuters, Cressman said the last major desert locust upsurge was in 2003-2005 when more than 12 million hectares were treated in west and northwest Africa, incurring a cost of about $750 million including food aid. Egypt did not suffer significant losses in 2003-05, but did in 1954-55, according to historical records. Short link: 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 Posted Sunday, February 17, 2019 1:02 pm She is 14, and looking for a family. She had one once. Her mom died of cancer a couple of years ago, and her dad killed himself five months later. She became a ward of the state. But the state, as she sees it, doesn't know what do with her. Short on foster families willing to take teens, it first parked her in a group facility. She felt stuck, sitting on her butt doing nothing. "How can I get adopted by someone if I can't go out and do things and meet people?" asked the girl, whose name The Seattle Times is withholding to protect her privacy. So, in January 2018, when a teen she met at the facility offered an introduction to a "street mom," she ran. She's been running off and on ever since -- once remaining missing for four months. Thin, with dark hair she sometimes tucks into a bun, leaving a sweep of hair in front, she preferred living with the "family" she found herself, even if they were all in desperate straits together, holed up in tents on dismal patches of land near the freeway. Last month, though, she was stuck again. More precisely, she was locked up -- in King County's youth jail. She hadn't committed a crime. In Washington, unlike in many states, running from a foster placement is a jailable offense. Juvenile-detention facilities throughout the state jailed 123 foster kids in 2017, sometimes multiple times. Four times in the case of this 14-year-old. She was booked, told to take off the special rings that were gifts from friends, patted down. She walked through a metal detector, put her clothes in a bag and pulled on a dark-green jail jumpsuit. Placed in a separate wing for noncriminal detainees, she was often alone. And though she knew the jail wasn't as bad as the grown-up variety, she said she didn't much like the graffiti that spoke about gross things, the blood stain on her mattress or the handcuffs and shackles she briefly wore. "I've done nothing wrong," she protested. Jail was supposed to keep her safe and get her help. Ultimately, it did neither. So what's the point, many ask, as they try to end a practice debated for years, and one they say brings more trauma into the lives of foster kids who have already experienced too much. Even the head of the state agency that gets court warrants to put kids in jail agrees it's wrong. "These are victims. These are not criminals," said Ross Hunter, secretary of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), which oversees foster care. A former legislator, he had supported bills to reform so-called Becca laws, named after a murdered runaway, and by some accounts making Washington the most frequent jailer of noncriminal kids. He could just stop seeking warrants. But what to do instead? That's the question Hunter kept puzzling over in a series of interviews, one spent in part tramping through University District homeless encampments looking for the 14-year-old. Released from jail, she had run yet again. Like other runaways, she faced harms possibly worse then detention. "I've got to figure this one out in a hurry," Hunter said, calling the issue a "moral conundrum." It is one of the many tests he faces as head of a new agency meant to fix longstanding problems in the foster-care system. Trying to force the issue, the King County Department of Public Defense last month filed a "habeas" court challenge on the girl's behalf, saying she was being held without due process. Meanwhile, a bill in Olympia would phase out the jailing of runaways -- and other "status offenders," including truants and children deemed at risk by a judge -- over the next two years. King County is trying to reach agreement with the state to stop the detention of runaway foster kids immediately. "Purge condition" The 14-year-old knew the drill: Warrant, arrest, detention, court. She might be handcuffed when arrested, or while being taken from detention to the King County Courthouse. She sometimes had cuffs put on her feet, too, while walking from a van to the courthouse elevators, she said in a declaration filed with her habeas motion. "It's embarrassing to walk around like that, kids look at me weird." A judge could then order her back to detention for up to six more days, or until she fulfilled a "purge condition," like writing a two-page paper on where she saw herself in 10 years, or reading a book on human trafficking. Then back to DCYF for placement for who knows how long before she ran away again. She had her reasons. In one facility, Pioneer Youth Center -- Spruce Street, a kid kept trying to touch her, she said. Several runs and placements later, she ended up back at Spruce Street and was willing to stay -- but the facility's 30-day limit was up. DCYF, as it sometimes does with foster kids it can't find placements for, wanted to send her out of state. That's another controversial practice, especially after an October Disability Rights Washington report alleged foster kids placed in one Iowa facility were abused. The 14-year-old was supposed to go to another Iowa facility run by the same outfit. But she didn't want to leave the state -- away from her street family. She hadn't taken to the "mom" she first ran to, but she met others, most notably a man in his early 20s. The state was concerned about the relationship, it said in legal papers, though the girl told a lawyer he was not a boyfriend. Last June, he called the teen's state social worker and set up a meeting at a Starbucks. The girl refused to return to state care. "The people I live with when I'm out there, they keep me so I don't harm myself," she said. It was mid-January, and she was talking in a room off a courthouse hallway, before a hearing to decide where she should go next. She had just been detained for the fourth time, and had on the telltale green jumpsuit. Her words came quickly, in stream-of-consciousness bursts, like when she described what it's like to wait for the next placement. "Every time this happens, I never know what's going to happen. With every single kid, they never know what's going on. You just sit there and sit there and sit there, waiting and waiting ..." Some kids, she knew, ended up spending the night at a DCYF office because there was no place to put them, or they landed in a hotel, as 100 foster children did last year. Lawyers with her, including Anita Khandelwal, director of the county's Department of Public Defense, said they knew DCYF had challenges finding placements. "One thing is very clear," Khandelwal said, however. Their client "does not belong in jail." Runaways end up being released back to DCYF, she said. Why not skip a step and have police deliver them straight to the agency? When kids not in foster care run away, Khandelwal pointed out, police who find them usually just take them home. Tara Urs, who works on policy for public defenders and filed the habeas motion that morning, said the threat of jail makes kids more unsafe, not less. Fearing arrest, they hide out, avoiding school or shelters. Instead, Urs wanted DCYF to find out what her 14-year-old client needed and where she was willing to stay -- such as with an aunt, with whom she felt safe. The aunt had Parkinson's and diabetes, but Urs said the state could see if anything could make it work. At the hearing, the state, again, had a book it wanted the teen to read and a paper for her to write before being released. Judge Theresa Doyle said she wasn't convinced that either would be productive, and ordered the teen released. Some judges feel jail is necessary to enforce court orders directing kids to remain in state care. But Doyle continues to veer from that notion. After finding out another teen before her in February had been handcuffed and shackled, she said: "I think this falls under the rubric of having suffered enough." The day after the 14-year-old's hearing, she stood outside Spruce Street, where she had been placed yet again. She said she knew of four residents who wanted to run. A buzzer went off when kids pressed on the door, but that was no big deal. Within days, she was gone. Handing out fliers Two weeks later, with DCYF boss Hunter on an information-gathering ride-along, David Martz, one of the department's nine runaway "locators," knocked on the door of the University District Youth Center, a drop-in space for homeless young adults, looking for her. The center was closed, but program manager Jason McGill let them in. McGill said he hadn't seen the girl lately, though he had in the past with her 20-something male companion. McGill said he worried about her. She was then 13. "We really need to figure out how to change the policies in Washington," he told Hunter and Martz. He said where he came from, back East, she would have been placed in a locked facility -- not jail, McGill later clarified, but a place that offered therapy to help kids with trauma and addiction. Teens as young as 13 or 14 were too vulnerable to be allowed to run, he said. "I can't lock her anywhere," Hunter told McGill. "Maybe for a couple of days somewhere," he added, alluding to detention. Jail is not ideal, concedes Lisa West, president of the Washington Association of Juvenile Court Administrators, who nonetheless opposes the bill that would end it for noncriminal youth. "But it's all that this state has," she testified at a Senate hearing last month. At least in jail, she said, kids get medical and mental-health checks, and the possibility of needed intervention. "Sometimes it just takes that moment in time," she added later by phone. Other states manage without locks. California has 215 short-stay therapeutic facilities, according to Michael Weston, spokesperson for the state's Department of Social Services. State law does not allow locked facilities for those in foster care, he said. For Oregon's Department of Human Services, chronic runaways are a struggle, said Greg Thomas, who works with caseworkers statewide. Rather than jail or locked facilities, though, it relies on "a lot of creative plans" to find the best answers for each kid, he said. "They're usually running to something," Thomas said, so a start is finding out what that something is. In the meantime, Thomas said, if a runaway is found somewhere safe, say at a friend's or relative's place, "we try to keep them wherever they're at." In King County, warrants often lead police to take kids from safe places -- facilities with state-funded beds for street youth -- and bring them to jail, according to Marcus Stubblefield, manager of criminal-justice policy for the county. "We should stop doing that," Hunter agreed. He said a possible agreement between his agency and King County might entail using these beds for street youth as alternatives to jail. Can these beds be used throughout the state? he wondered. He didn't know. There aren't as many in every county. And even in this one, he wasn't sure what to do about what he called "the worst case scenario" -- the kid found on the street late at night, maybe shooting up, maybe sexually exploited, or maybe just really, really young. After the stop at the University District Youth Center, Hunter went with Martz as the locator drove along the Ave looking for the 14-year-old, and showed fliers with the girl's picture to staff at a pharmacy and neighborhood library. "We're just really worried about her," Martz kept saying. Nobody had seen her. Then, he hit several clusters of tents near Interstate 5. Out of one elaborate construction covered with a tarp, two men and a woman emerged who knew the girl. Around August, the teen and her male companion pitched a tent a few yards from theirs, said Maureen Michael. The guy, she said, confided he didn't know what to do. The girl cried a lot. Not long after, she had her 14th birthday. That's when people living there realized how young she was, and how much older he was. "People got all upset," Michael said. "They were going to report them." The pair disappeared quickly. A few streets away, up a muddy embankment, Martz met another man by a tent who had seen the girl in the past. "She's in the area," Martz concluded as he and Hunter headed back to the car. But he didn't know where else to look. Hopefully, someone he talked to today would call him after spotting her. Or he would try again the next time he was in the area. There were 21 missing foster kids in King County at that moment, and he was off to search for the next one. ___ Egypt on Saturday detained two foreigners for drug smuggling after they flew in to Cairo international airport carrying a large quantity of cocaine, official sources told AFP. A Cairo prosecutor ordered the German woman and Turkish man held "for four days for investigations on charges of bringing in 11 kilogrammes of cocaine" into the country, a judicial source said. A security source told AFP the pair arrived on an Emirates flight from Dubai. Egypt's cabinet in late January approved a legislative amendment to increase punishments for drug smugglers to include the death penalty. The proposal still needs to be passed by parliament. Short link: Posted Saturday, February 16, 2019 3:45 pm Representative Matt Shea, R-Spokane, was greeted by a few dozen constituents on Friday in support of Second Amendment rights and his proposal to split Washington along the Cascades and create a 51st state to the east called Liberty. Supporters trekked across the state on snowy roads to hear speeches in Olympia from legislators, a domestic violence survivor, and a former prosecutor. Allen Acosta, a Libertarian who ran unsuccessfully for the the 22nd district House seat in the last general election, organized the event. In regards to the Second Amendment, the law is a powerful tool just like guns, he said. Both are a great equalizer in the right hand at the right time. Shea has proposed to split Washington into two states, which would require both state and federal approval. Let us be free, and well see which side works out better, he said at the rally on Friday. Neither his bill nor his petition to Congress for federal approval have been scheduled for a public hearing. Posted Sunday, February 17, 2019 1:12 pm A pregnant seal, now without its left eye after being shot with a pellet gun, is heading home to the San Juan Islands Sunday after successful surgery and nearly a month of recovery away from the sea. A fisherman shot the seal through the head near the Sucia Islands late last month, and the creature only endured the initial trauma of the ordeal through luck and quick emergency care. The feisty, one-eyed seal, who goes by "19-0120" among staff caring for her at the PAWS Wildlife Center, is expected to survive her reintroduction to the wild. Her plight highlights rising tensions between fishermen and federally protected pinnipeds -- seals and sea lions -- in the Pacific Northwest, as both compete for their catch of fish. Suspect identified The harbor seal was shot during a fishing derby, according to Jennifer Olson, the Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator for San Juan County. Deputies with the San Juan County Sheriff's office, along with a border patrol agent, were the first to reach the seal the afternoon of the shooting on Jan. 26. "We received a call that somebody was out shooting a seal with a pellet gun," said Zac Reimer, the office's undersheriff. "Another person, who was also fishing, observed this happening right in front of them and gave us a call right away." Reimer said the person who reported the shooting was close enough to capture video of the events. When deputies arrived, the suspect's boat was still there and the seal was "bobbing around, not acting like a healthy harbor seal," Reimer said. "It just appeared stunned." The animal was so listless that deputies were able to get a rope around the creature and haul it onto their 26-foot patrol boat. No one was arrested at the scene, but deputies were able to talk to witnesses, take photographs and collect evidence, Reimer said. A 40-year-old man is suspected in the shooting, he said. The man's boat had remained there with several other people onboard. "Since we were already on marine patrol, we were able to just go right up to the boats and talk to everybody," Reimer said. The evidence is in the hands of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's law-enforcement branch, which is investigating and could pursue federal charges. Violations of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act can result in fines of up to $28,520 along with up to one year of imprisonment. A rare case of survival Washington state once financed a bounty hunting program that encouraged people to kill harbor seals in an effort to bolster fishermen's catch, according to the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife. With the program's end in 1960 and the passage of the federal protection act 12 years later, the population of harbor seals began to multiply many times over. But the recovery of pinnipeds has also spurred an increase in salmon consumption by the creatures, according to a 2017 paper published in Scientific Reports. In 1975, harbor seals ate an estimated 3.5 million chinook salmon. In 2015, that figure rose to 27.4 million chinook, most of them juveniles. That leaves fewer fish for anglers and endangered southern resident orcas. Conflict with people is on the rise. "There's certainly frustration out there, at the slow recovery of salmon, and these animals are using those resources that we also rely on," said Michael Milstein, a NOAA spokesperson. Researchers examined pinniped stranding data in the Pacific Northwest from 1991 to 2016 in a recent Aquatic Mammals Journal article. Strandings -- when a pinniped comes ashore dead or is alive and unable to return to the water without help -- began to rise in the early 2000s, a trend driven, in part, by a rise in the animals being shot, according to the data. In 25 years of study, 896 harbor seals were found to have been stranded after interacting with people. More than 21 percent of those seals were shot. Meanwhile, dead sea lions, with bullet holes, have been washing up across Puget Sound shores. The Whale Museum, where Olson works as a data specialist, tracks marine-mammal strandings in San Juan County. Since 1980, the museum has counted 39 confirmed cases in which pinnipeds were shot. Most of the cases are identified in necropsies. "To have a live seal survive the gunshot wound where there's time to help them, that's what makes this case rare," Olson said. 'Cross our fingers and hope' Soon after the shooting, the deputies brought the struggling seal to Olson, who loaded the animal into a crate and drove her to the Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center on San Juan Island. "She was moving. I could tell she was alive," Olson said. But after "giving her a small tap on her back, there was absolutely no response." Olson could see entry and exit wounds. Blood and pus were leaking out of the creature's head, she said. She worried the seal could have suffered brain damage. Once the seal arrived at Wolf Hollow, Penny Harner, a staff rehabilitator began to treat the "lethargic" animal. "Basically, all we could do the first night was get some fluids in her, get some medications on board and cross our fingers and hope for the night," Harner said. But the next morning, when she flipped the lights, the 128-pound creature stirred and began to look around with her good eye. When Harner entered the room to treat the seal, "she did what a typical seal would, which was lunge." Wolf Hollow staff typically work with injured or orphaned seal pups, but not strong, muscular adults. During treatments, it took four staffers, clad in protective gear, to hold the animal down for medication. "She gave me a ride around the room at times," said Harner, who was in charge of using her knees to control the seal's flippers. When a veterinarian visited the rehabilitation center, it was clear that the pellet wound, just above the seal's bugged-out and bloodshot left eye, would require surgery. Nearly a week after she was shot, the seal was taken in an animal ambulance to the PAWS Wildlife Center in Lynnwood, which treats hundreds of species of injured wild animals. As snow fell on Seattle on Feb. 4, veterinarians, surgeons and other helpers crowded to do surgery in a small room that looks like a shabby doctor's office. Earlier, an X-ray showed tiny metal fragments of the pellet lodged inside her head, and also a surprise -- the seal was pregnant. The scan had revealed the curvature of a tiny spine, rib cage and skull growing inside. While the seal remained under anesthetic, two surgeons began their work, as the others monitored the animal's blood pressure, breathing and heartbeat. The surgeons carved out the damaged tissue, severed the seal's optic nerve and removed her eye. Then, they scored the seal's eyelids and sutured them to one another so the skin would heal together. "It's a bloody surgery," said wildlife veterinarian Nicki Rosenhagen, but the seal fared well. PAWS staffers placed the seal's eyeball, and some extra tissue, in a plastic gelato container. "We do a lot of educational talks," Rosenhagen explained. The pregnant seal has had a smooth recovery, Rosenhagen said. The seal arrived to PAWS plump, strong and healthy, aside from the gunshot wound. The surgical site has been healing well and there's no evidence of infection. She's been swimming. And her behavior has been "appropriately aggressive" -- normal for a seal and a good indication that no brain damage occurred. 'Super lucky' and headed home On Sunday morning, as long as a blood test comes back clean, PAWS naturalist Jeff Brown will help load the pregnant seal into a giant dog kennel, secure her in the bed of a pickup truck and haul her home. He's scouted two locations for a beach release, one in the Sucia Islands and another on San Juan Island with easier access, in case a storm stirs. By the afternoon, a crew will unload the kennel and release the seal back to her home. The veterinarians expect the seal to adapt to hunting with one eye and give her good prospects to survive. The baby should also be fine, Rosenhagen said. A radiologist who examined the X-ray said she saw no evidence of fetal death, despite the mother's ordeal. "She got super lucky," Rosenhagen said, "if getting shot in the head is lucky." Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:16 pm CENTRALIA POLICE DEPARTMENT Vehicle Theft At 9:25 a.m. Wednesday, a theft of a red 2006 Toyota Tacoma was reported in the 1300 block of Oxford Avenue. Someone stole the truck from a driveway, and the owner reported seeing someone drive away in it. Person Trespassed After Accused of Stealing Food At 3:53 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue and placed a 24-year-old Rochester woman on trespass after she allegedly stole food from the store. Clothing Stolen At 3:53 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 100 block of West High Street and issued a summons to a 28-year-old Centralia man who allegedly left a store without paying for two pairs of jeans. At 6:27 p.m. on Thursday, clothing was reported stolen from a retail store in the 100 block fo West High Street by an unidentified female suspect. Police Issue Summonses for Protection Order Violations At 12:29 a.m. Thursday, police went to the 500 block of East Magnolia Street and issued a summons to a 20-year-old Centralia man on suspicion of violating a domestic violence protection order. At 2:38 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a violation of a protection order in the 1200 block of South Gold Street. A court summons was issued for a 59-year-old Centralia resident. At 3:58 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a violation of a protection order in the 500 block of East Magnolia Street. A court summons was issued for a 20-year-old Centralia man. Police Investigate Sexual Assault At 11:02 a.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a sexual assault in the 1100 block of South Pearl Street. The report is under investigation. Satellite Dish Damaged At 2:49 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a person damaging a satellite dish in the 200 block of West Hanson Street. Hit and Run At 2:54 p.m. on Thursday, a hit and run was reported in the 900 block of Harrison Avenue. Household Items Damaged At 2:59 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of malicious mischief in the 800 block of West Sixth Street in Centralia. Household items were reportedly damaged. Package Stolen At 4 p.m. on Thursday, a package was reported stolen from a porch in the 200 block of Denny Way. Suspect Jumps Fence, Steals Car Keys At 4:13 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a burglary in the 800 block of North Tower Avenue. An unknown suspect reportedly climbed a fence and stole car keys from vehicles parked inside the fenced-in area. Transient Spotted Damaging Property At 5:27 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report that a person believed to be a transient was damaging property in the 100 block of West Magnolia Street. The suspect fled before police arrived. DUI At 8:03 p.m. on Thursday, police responded to the 1200 block of North Tower Avenue and arrested Chad C. Bass, 30, of Centralia, on suspicion of driving under the influence. Bass allegedly drove a vehicle through a fence. Tires, Wheels Taken At 9:12 p.m. on Thursday, tires and wheels were reported stolen from a parked vehicle in the 900 block of G Street. Vehicle Prowl At 10:06 p.m. on Thursday, a vehicle prowl was reported in the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue. A computer, books and shoes were stolen. CHEHALIS POLICE DEPARTMENT Counterfeit Bills At 8:29 a.m. Wednesday, police were requested in the 500 block of Southeast Washington Avenue, where someone passed around $800 in counterfeit bills. Thefts At 12:26 p.m. Wednesday, a theft of license plates was reported in the 500 block of Northwest Pacific Avenue. At 5:39 p.m. on Thursday, a third-degree theft was reported in the 400 block of North Market Boulevard. Man Begins To Take Clothes Off in Parking Lot At 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, a caller reported a man was walking back in forth in front of a business, and then began to take his clothes off in the parking lot. The man then put the clothes he had discarded back on. Staff Wants Man To Stop Doing Donuts in Parking Lot At 3:50 p.m. Wednesday, police were requested in the 100 block of Ribelin Road, where a male subject was using his vehicle to do donuts in a parking lot. The business staff didnt want the man to be in trouble they just wanted him to stop. Suspect Booked on Suspicion of Heroin Possession, Warrant At 12:29 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 600 block of Southwest 20th Street and arrested Joseph K. Dodd, 37, of Chehalis on suspicion of possession of heroin and on a Lewis County warrant for failure to appear in court. Truck Damaged in Malicious Mischief At 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, police responded to a report of malicious mischief in the 1200 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue. A person reported someone tore out the ignition of a truck and stole gasoline from another vehicle the same night. A suspect was captured on camera taking the gas. Suspect Booked for Attempt to Steal $800 in Merchandise At 7:56 p.m. on Thursday, police responded to a report of a theft in the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue. A suspect reportedly pushed a shopping cart out of the store full of $800 of merchandise that hadnt been paid for. Gavin T. Kane, 19, of Centralia, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree theft. Lewis County Jail Statistics As of Friday morning, the Lewis County Jail had a total system population of 216 inmates, with 186 in general population, 29 in the Work Ethic and Restitution Center and one on work release. Of general population inmates, 153 were men and 33 were women and of WERC inmates, 24 were men and five women. A total of 32 inmates were booked through contracts with agencies outside Lewis County. By The Chronicle Staff Please call news reporter Cody Neuenschwander with news tips. He can be reached at 807-8208 or cneuenschwander@chronline.com Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:06 pm The animal rights group PETA wants to pay tribute to chickens killed in a tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 5 this week in Olympia with a billboard near the crash site encouraging people to become vegan. The northbound tractor-trailer was hauling live chickens early Monday morning when it lost control and struck the jersey barrier, knocking down a street light. The crash happened near Eastside Street Southeast in Olympia. After the crash, dead chickens lined the roadway, though Washington State Patrol reported some survived the crash. This crash left countless birds dead or mangled on the highway, and the survivors who couldnt escape will presumably end up under the slaughterhouse knife, PETA Vice President Colleen OBrien said in a news release. A PETA representative said it hopes to put up the billboard showing a chickens face next to the words Im ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan as soon as possible. That could be easier said than done. The Washington State Department of Transportation does not allow billboards on state land next to the freeway, said WSDOT spokesman Doug Adamson; other property near the crash site is owned by the city of Olympia. According to PETA, there were more than 90 crashes involving trucks transporting animals in 2018 and more than a dozen so far in 2019. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Egypt launched Saturday a national health campaign aimed at early detecting and tackling anemia, dwarfism and obesity with school pupils nationwide. The campaign, planned to be conducted in three phases, was launched by Minister of Health Hala Zayed and Education Minister Tarek Shawky upon directions by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Run on February 17- April 2, the first phase targets 11.5 million school pupils at both governmental and private schools. It will tackle school pupils from six to 12 years old, where any detected ones with these problems, parents will be notified to start treatment. Treatment will be totally free, as parents should not bear any expenses, Zayed stressed. She asserted that the campaign will be operated according to international standards, dismissing any rumors and reports that target the health campaigns at schools. The health minister said that the three stages of the campaign will target more than 22,000 schools, and will be operated by 4,420 medical teams. Shawky said that there is continuous cooperation between the education and health ministries, as health is an integral and basic part for all humans, especially those in the early ages of their lives. The campaign is obligatory, Shawky said, warning of taking measures against any parents who will refuse to subject their children to medical examinations. Search Keywords: Short link: Flash U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert withdrew herself from consideration for the nomination of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN), the department said in a statement on Saturday. President Donald Trump will make an announcement on the issue "soon," the statement said. Nauert explained in the statement that her decision to withdraw was due to family reasons, saying "the past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration." Nauert, a 48-year-old former FOX News presenter, joined the State Department as spokesperson in April 2017. Trump nominated Nauert as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations last December to replace Nikki Haley, who left her post at the end of 2018. However, picking Nauert to represent the United States in the international arena is seen as an unusual choice for Trump. Many Democrats and experts questioned her qualifications, given the former news presenter had limited political or foreign policy experience before joining the State Department. Flash Facts have shown and will continue to prove that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative creates opportunities and benefits for all countries and serves the common interests of humanity, a senior Chinese official said here Saturday. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks in his keynote speech themed "Working for a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind by Promoting International Cooperation and Multilateralism" at the 55th Munich Security Conference. "The Belt and Road Initiative is an important international public good that China contributes to global cooperation for common development. It is also an important pathway toward building a community with a shared future for mankind," said Yang, who is also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee. Guided by the principle of consultation and cooperation for shared benefit and the vision of green, clean and sustainable development, China will partner with all parties on the basis of universally accepted international rules, standards, laws and regulations to make the Belt and Road cooperation a road for peace, prosperity, openness, innovation and cultural exchange, he added. Building on the successful first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017, China will host the second forum in Beijing in about two months' time. With active participation and concerted efforts of all parties, the official believes that "the Belt and Road cooperation will achieve even greater progress to the benefit of all peoples." The global green lobbies have long painted India and China, two populous Asian neighbors, as the villains of global warming and planet-threatening activities. Recall the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, where loud accusations were made by green activists and international NGOs against China and other developing economies like India and Brazil, of wrecking multilateralism on global warming. Until the United States walked out of the Paris Climate Accord in June 2017, the two Asian neighbors were at the receiving end of the ire of climate activists and Western green lobbyists. But now, the latest study by NASA's Earth Observatory revealed something to make these lobbies very uneasy. Data gathered from NASA satellites shows that India and China are in fact leading the world in land greening efforts. Such positive effects have accrued from massive tree-planting programs and intensive agricultural development in both countries. Lead researcher Ranga Myneni and his colleagues from Boston University detected the greening phenomenon via satellites in the mid-1990s. However, they were unsure if human activity was the key cause until they mapped out the total land area covered by vegetation and tracked how it changed over time. The Earth Observatory team found that the Earth's green leaf area has increased by 5 percent since 2000, with a massive 25 percent of that gain coming from China alone. According to the findings of a study published in the journal Nature Sustainability, China and India together, containing only 9 percent of the planet's vegetated land area, account for one-third of measured global greening. The finding powerfully refutes the established notion that land degradation in populous countries is caused by overexploitation. The study claims that China's outsized role in global greening has been possible largely due to its extensive programs to conserve and expand forests as much as 42 percent of the greening contribution. Most of these initiatives arose in different stages, mainly with the intention of reducing the effects of soil erosion and fighting air pollution. In the case of India, 82 percent of its greening contribution comes from intensive agricultural activities across large tracts of its arable land. While the land area required to grow crops in India and China has not increased much since the 2000s, both countries have dramatically increased their total green leaf area and associated food production. This mammoth, two-decades long project, based on reliable data from NASA's satellites, will surely silence the rebuttals and motivated campaign against these two populous countries that today lead the global fight against climate change. Moreover, despite the fact that the two Asian giants are late entrants to development and carbon-emitting activities, both countries came out with inspiring pledges in Paris vis-a-vis the West, particularly the United States. Consider China's pledges first. With installed solar capacity going up 400 times 2005 levels, China is a serious contender to meet the targets set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. China's level of investment in renewable energy, nearly US$100 billion, is unmatched by any nation. The country is seriously inching toward creating a national carbon market for all industries. Importantly, all recent activities of China, including the earmarking of a US$3 billion fund to encourage climate-beneficial initiatives in the global south, places China in the climate leadership role, particularly following the surprise U.S. pull out. While India is behind China in terms of resources and preparedness, the country has shown exemplary resolve to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels. With plans to cut its dependency on fossil fuels by 40 percent by shifting to renewable sources, India has already cut its emissions intensity by 13.5 percent between 2005 and 2012. Further, the country has launched an ambitious initiative to generate 175 GW from solar power alone by year 2022. To conclude, the Earth Observatory data highlighting the progress of India and China in global greening comes at a crucial juncture in the global fight against climate change. Such positive findings will go a long way to further enthuse the leadership and institutions in India and China in their collective fight against climate threatening activities. Niranjan Sahoo is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/NiranjanSahoo.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. If you would like to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn. Peking University on Saturday confirmed academic misconduct by Zhai Tianlin, a Chinese celebrity recently doubted online over his academic achievements, according to a statement. Zhai had highlighted his master's and doctoral degrees from Beijing Film Academy, and his admittance as a post-doctorate student by Guanghua School of Management, Peking University on China's micro-blogging site Weibo. It led to a number of people searching online for his previous written pieces, fueling online suspicion over his academic misconduct. In the statement, Peking University approved the management school's decision to expel Zhai, and suspended his supervisor's rights to further enroll post-doctorate students. The university has started an investigation on Zhai's enrollment since Feb. 8 and found the supervisor, the interview panel and the school have not followed strict standards during the interview and enrollment, nor done sufficient substantive document review, said the announcement. Commenting on the suspected academic misconduct by Zhai, a Ministry of Education spokesperson on Friday said no academic misconduct would be tolerated and stressed that there is no place for actions of defying academic rules and undermining educational equity. In an apology letter posted online, Zhai said he was deeply sorry to the schools, teachers and the public for being dishonest. You are here: China Daily railway trips in China exceed 10 million for eight consecutive days during the Spring Festival travel rush, data from the national railway operator showed Saturday. On Feb. 16, some 11 million passenger trips were made by rail, up 8.6 percent year on year, according to the China Railway Corporation (CRC). The Feb. 15 saw a 4.4-percent year-on-year rise in railway trips, hitting 11.32 million, said the CRC. To facilitate the post Spring Festival holiday travel rush and to provide the passengers with a convenient, comfortable and nice travel experience, all local railway departments have raised their work efficiency and improved the waiting room conditions. This year's Spring Festival travel rush started from Jan. 21 and will last till March 1, with railway trips expected to hit 413 million in total, up 8.3 percent. U.S. electric pickup maker Rivian Automotive LLC has said that it is getting a cash injection totaling 700 million U.S. dollars from Amazon and others. The investment comes largely from online retail giant Amazon, with "participation from existing shareholders." "This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility," said R.J. Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO, in a statement on Friday. Amazon, in a separate statement, said it values Rivian's vision. A tie-up between Rivian and Amazon is a good fit, the Detroit News quoted Michelle Krebs, an automotive analyst for Cox Automotive, as saying. As Amazon looks for ways to reinvent its delivery fleet, Rivian's "electric-powered skateboard concept" offers potential for electric delivery vans. "The investment is a drop in the bucket for Amazon, but it is huge for Rivian in terms of the amount of money and in terms of raising the profile of Rivian," Krebs said. Rivian's R1T pickup and R1S SUV will have a 400-mile-plus range, and offer off-road capability, Detroit News reported. The base 69,000-dollar model boasts clever "frunk" storage behind the grille and a Tesla-like 105-kWh battery. An upscale, 100,000-dollar plus model would increase that to 180 kWh. The company plans to build 20,000 units in 2021 in the U.S. state of Illinois, according to the report. A decision to oblige teachers and school administrators to wear uniforms in schools is an initiative launched and applied in one governorate only in Egypt at the current time, Minister of Education Tarek Shawky announced Saturday via Facebook, slamming those who mocked the initiative. "The governor of Wadi El-Gadid governorate designed and launched a beautiful initiative concerning a school uniform for teachers and school administrators, to unify their appearance and to add a prestige to the teacher that suits the majesty of his profession, and yet social media networks are full of unjustified questions, rumours and mockery as we try harder to present something better," Shawky said on Facebook. Claims went viral Friday and Saturday that the Ministry of Education had issued a decision to make teachers and school administrators wear uniform in schools across Egypt, accompanied with a photo of the alleged uniform. The news was met by criticism as well as mockery on social media in Egypt. According to Shawky, the initiative of Wadi El-Gadid Governor Mohamed El-Zamalut was followed carefully by the ministry, but it is not a national initiative. "The Ministry of Education did not issue any comment about the teachers and administrators and I have not said anything about how teachers would pay half the cost of the uniforms, as spread on social media networks," Shawky added. "If you want to know more information then please ask the governor of Wadi El-Gadid, or the education directorate in the governorate," he said, adding that mockery of "everything" won't help the nation move forward. For his part, Governor El-Zamalut said in media statements late Saturday that his initiative was still in an experimental phase and that it was not a mandatory order, nor did it aim for profit. Short link: As Mayor David Kaptain announced the Black History Month proclamation, he said the council was doing things a little differently and then introduced a video featuring Sumner. The lights dimmed and Sumners face, painted as a box of popcorn, appeared on a screen. In a song, he introduced his Popcorn Dance, encouraged everyone to go online to check out the flavors and buy a bag for their neighbors. America is home to so much breathtaking natural beauty, from spectacular lakes and waterfalls to stunning coastlines and national parks. But some of Americas most famous, fabulous landmarks were actually designed and built by humans. These bridges, buildings, churches, castles, college campuses and more are not just the biggest, tallest, hardest to build or most beautiful. On top of that, they have become iconic symbols of their states, drawing in tourists from around the country and even around the world to marvel at their design. Whether theyre loved by locals or lauded by professionals like the American Institute of Architecture, these are the top man-made marvels in every state. (Kaitlin Miller, The Active Times) Before Zanis leaves to travel across the river, two Aurora ministers, the Rev. Dan Haas and the Rev. Randy Schoof, who will be leading the citys prayer vigil at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, join the cross man for a few minutes, gathering at the back of the truck, holding hands and praying for a city that, while certainly no stranger to crime, never thought this sort of evil would bring global attention to their community. Its a massive facility with numerous racks of large valves and machines throughout the building, he said. (Martin) broke contact and went to the back a back machine shop at the very back part of the building, farthest from the area where we made entry into the building. He was probably waiting for us to get to him there, is the way that it appeared. 1:24 p.m. The first call of an active shooter in the plant and police rush to 641 Archer Ave. A caller said shots were being fired after an employee was terminated. Below are some of the fundraising efforts underway. For a list of events in the Aurora area intended to support these funds or those affected by the shooting, please click here. The teen, identified by authorities as Michael Elam, was initially taken to an area hospital after the shooting in critical condition. But on Sunday morning, a spokesman for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the city agency that investigates police-involved shootings, said the teen has since died. So. If you don't obsess over every past episodes, nothing to see here. If you do, and you go and pre-lubricate the experience, youll get a party atmosphere among kindred spirits, good-natured amusement, and non-union actors with some talent (Sami Griffith, who plays Jennifer/Rachel is the standout) but without much resemblance to the characters on the show. You dont want to push that parody defense too far. After all, David Schwimmer, who surely would not care for this, often hangs out at Lookingglass Theatre next door. Martins case illustrates how easy it is for gun owners to keep access to their weapons even after their permits have been revoked. In Illinois, owners get letters from the state police asking them to give up their weapons, but its not always clear who follows up to see that is done. As we looked at the financials, the losses had accelerated tremendously and it was beyond what we had projected, Whitaker said. To the extent that we would have to pour a lot of capital into Westlake, it really would have endangered the other two hospitals we had as part of the purchase. Latching onto a clever lobbed pass from veteran Dani Alves over the defense, Mbappe was at full stretch yet still hooked a powerful shot into the top left corner while sliding forward to meet the ball in the 73rd minute. Chronograph chronology Chronograph chronology Since the acclaimed premiere of the Datograph 16 years ago, the Saxon watch brand has continuously leveraged its expertise in this domain... Since the acclaimed premiere of the... RTHK: British IS 'wife' gives birth, seeks return to UK A teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria but now wants to return to Britain on Sunday gave birth in a refugee camp, as European governments grapple with what to do with returning jihadists ahead of a US troop pullout. Shamima Begum, whose fate has stirred controversy ever since she and two friends fled London to join the terror network in 2015 aged just 15, told Sky News she had delivered a boy. "I just gave birth so I'm really tired," the 19-year-old said as she made a renewed appeal to be allowed back to Britain with her newborn baby. "I'm afraid he might even die in this camp. I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I've been through," she said. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I left. I just was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they let me come back," she added. Her case comes as European nations struggle with how to deal with jihadists eager to return home following the disintegration of Islamic State's "caliphate" in eastern Syria. US President Donald Trump again demanded on Saturday that they take back hundreds of captured IS fighters. Trump said on Twitter that the United States was asking Britain and other continental allies "to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial". The demand came as he prepared -- ahead of the pullout of US troops -- to declare the group's so-called "caliphate" destroyed, with US-led Arab and Kurdish forces close to capturing its last Syrian territorial holdout. "The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe," Trump added. "Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!" Begum, previously gave birth to two other children after marrying in Syria. Both children died. Leading politicians, including interior minister Sajid Javid, have vowed to prevent her return, pointing to her lack of remorse for joining the terror group. Begum told Sky News she was aware of IS's brutal tactics, including conducting beheadings, but did not regret going to Syria. "I knew about those things and I was OK with it at first," she said. "They take care of you... you're living under Islamic law. "I don't regret it because it's changed me as a person, made me stronger, tougher." The teenager, who said she had had no contact with British officials, added the government should not block her homecoming because she was "just a housewife" while there. "I never made propaganda, I never encouraged people to come to Syria. "They don't really have proof that I did anything that is dangerous," she said. Europe has long been grappling with how to respond to foreign fighters, and their supporters or dependants, caught in Syria. However the looming US departure has created a deadline for those governments whose citizens joined IS and have now been captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Britain's government appears split on the issue. Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright, a former attorney general -- the country's chief legal adviser -- told the BBC on Sunday that it was "obliged, at some stage at least, to take them back". He noted it was "a matter of international law and domestic law". However, writing in The Sunday Times -- under the headline "if you run away to join ISIS, I will use all my power to stop you coming back" -- Javid insisted the government should strip "dangerous individuals of their British citizenship". He said Britain had already exercised this power more than 100 times. "In considering what actions need to be taken now, I have to think about the safety and security of children living in our country," Javid wrote. Other European countries that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention are now being forced to confront the situation. "All German citizens -- including those who are suspected of fighting for the so-called Islamic state -- have a fundamental right to travel back into Germany," a German foreign ministry source said Sunday. Belgian justice minister Koen Geens told Flemish broadcaster VRT there was the need for a "European solution" to the issue, but appeared irked by Trump's blunt call. "It would have been nice for friendly nations to have these kinds of questions raised through the usual diplomatic channels rather than a tweet in the middle of the night," he said in Dutch. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2019-02-17. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Photo: The Canadian Press A British Columbia man who was deported at 59 despite living in Canada since he was seven months old has won a shot at returning home. A federal court has granted Len Van Heest a judicial review of his permanent and temporary residency applications. Van Heest was deported to the Netherlands in 2017, and court documents say he has been living in a shelter where he can't communicate with anyone because he doesn't speak the language. They say he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 16, committed dozens of crimes in Canada and made several legal attempts to remain in the country before he was deported. In his Feb. 7 ruling, Justice Yvan Roy says Van Heest was dealt a "tough hand" in life and the "extremely peculiar circumstances of this case" call for a more careful and nuanced examination of humanitarian and compassionate factors that goes beyond hardship. Van Heest's application will be returned to a different officer for review. Alanna Kelly Residents living up at Big White Ski Resort are searching for the culprit of a hit and run that damaged at least one vehicle on Friday night. Jason Valkenburg captured video of a white Ford pickup truck with an extended cab long box driving on Snow Pines Road at about 11:15 p.m. Moments later the pickup truck can be seen smashing into the parked cars and driving away. Has anyone seen this truck?, said Valkenburg. A photograph taken by another person living up at Big White shows the front of a vehicle damaged. Anyone who witnessed the driver can contact [email protected] and we will pass on the information to the owner of the vehicle. Photo: VPD Joseph Davis A federal sex offender who failed to return to his Vancouver halfway house has been arrested in Quebec. Joseph Davis, 47, a fourth-time federal offender, was serving a four-year sentence for sexual assault. He failed to return for his evening curfew on Feb. 11 and a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest. Vancouver Police Department provided the public with additional information on Valentine's Day, including a description of a Mercedes SUV that Davis purchased, said Const. Jason Doucette. He was arrested early on Sunday morning while driving the SUV and acknowledged the media attention about his warrant. This wasn't the first time Davis was wanted by police. In 2017, Davis was wanted Canada-wide for violating a long-term supervision order and was unlawfully at large. Police said in December 2007, Davis sexually assaulted a real estate agent in Winnipeg, Man., after luring her to his home. In 2001, he was convicted of assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement of a female sex trade worker he invited to his residence. Davis now remains in custody. Photo: The Canadian Press Jody Wilson-Raybould's resignation from cabinet this week has stoked long-standing frustration, disappointment and anger among Canada's veterans, who say they have been ignored and betrayed by the Trudeau government. The Liberals went out of their way during the last federal election to court former service members, as Justin Trudeau promised to improve service delivery and reinstate a lifelong disability pension for veterans after years of Conservative cuts and inaction. That pension, first introduced after the First World War, was abolished in 2006 with support from all federal parties and replaced by a suite of rehabilitation programs and financial compensation for injured soldiers. Since then, the Liberals have run through three veterans-affairs ministers in as many years Kent Hehr, Seamus O'Regan and Wilson-Raybould while making little headway on improving service delivery and breaking their pension promise. The government has increased some supports and benefits for veterans and unveiled its own so-called Pension for Life program that will roll out in April, but that program has been widely assessed as falling far short of Trudeau's original pledge. "Our key concern is there's been a betrayal of the commitment that the prime minister made in the election of 2015," said Brian Forbes, chair of the National Council of Veterans Associations, which represents more than 60 veteran groups. "That is felt very strongly in the veterans' community." The Liberals have also been roundly accused of ignoring the various ministerial advisory groups and other mechanisms established after the 2015 election to solicit feedback from the veterans' community about its needs and concerns. All of which had sowed seeds of discontent even before Wilson-Raybould was handed the veterans-affairs portfolio on Jan. 14, taking over from O'Regan in a move widely regarded as a demotion from her previous role as justice minister. Now, while parliamentarians and Canadians at large wonder about the truth surrounding Wilson-Raybould's discussions with the prime minister's office about SNC-Lavalin, many veterans feel they have been forgotten. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has added responsibility for veterans to his duties, but only temporarily. "It's like the veterans are the last priority in this story," said Aaron Bedard, an Afghan War veteran from B.C. who led an unsuccessful legal battle against the government to reinstate the old disability pension. "We don't have a minister of veterans affairs anymore." Photo: The Canadian Press A leak from a derailed train carrying oil in western Manitoba has been contained, CN said Saturday, but some pipeline supporters say the incident highlights the risks involved in moving oil by rail. Canadian National Railway said in a statement that 37 cars carrying crude left the tracks early Saturday morning near St-Lazare, just east of the Saskatchewan-Manitoba boundary. The railway said there was "a partial leak" of crude and it was not known how much oil had spilled. Later in the afternoon, spokesman Jonathan Abecassis said the leak had been contained and none of the spilled oil made it into the nearby Assiniboine River. CN said there were no reports of injuries or fires, and an environmental team was on scene cleaning up the spill and protecting the environment. Supporters of moving oil via pipelines, who happened to be gathering for a rally in nearby Moosomin, Sask., argued that the spill illustrates that pipelines are a safer alternative to shipping by rail. "If you've got trains, you're going to have derailments," said Barry Lowes, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Ellice-Archie, Man., which surrounds St-Lazare. Lowes, who attended the pro-pipeline rally on Saturday, said "quite a bit" of oil had spilled and there was a foul smell in the area. "I could see (the railcars) off the track. I could see machinery working down there," said Lowes, noting that one farmer lives close to the derailment. He said it's not the first derailment in the community: in 1991, about 400 residents of St-Lazare fled their homes when a train derailment spilled dangerous chemicals. They returned six days later. St-Lazare fire chief Owen Jessop said firefighters were called to the scene of Saturday's derailment about eight kilometres south of the community at about 3 a.m., noting it was dark and hard to see anything. Jessop said the train crew was fine, and firefighters set up a perimeter to keep people away from the wreck. The Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to the site. Photo: The Canadian Press B.C.'s finance minister says the budget she tables Tuesday undertakes development of social, environmental and economic initiatives as other provinces across Canada implement cuts to programs and shifts to the right. Carole James says her budget builds on the minority New Democrat government's goals of making life more affordable, improving services and ensuring a sustainable economy. "I see them as hand in hand," said James in an interview. "The investments we make in people and the investments we make in environment are investments in a sustainable, strong economy." Prof. David Black said he expects the social and economic agenda laid out in James's budget to contrast sharply with the right-leaning policies in some other provinces. Manitoba and Ontario have Conservative governments. The Coalition Avenir Quebec government, is essentially conservative, and the Saskatchewan party is right-leaning. Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party in Alberta, meanwhile, is considered the front-runner in this year's Alberta election, said Black, a political communications expert at Royal Roads University in the Victoria area. "If the Alberta NDP lose in the spring election that leaves six out of 10 provinces with right-of-centre control," he said. "It puts a powerful spotlight on B.C. as a place of social democratic governance." Black said while many provinces fight the federal carbon tax and cut education and child care, B.C. is spending billions on affordable housing, promising 22,000 child-care places and hiring teachers. James's budget is expected to include new funding for the government's poverty reduction strategy and its Clean BC plan to fight climate change. Black said the B.C. New Democrats led by Premier John Horgan are on a social building agenda that he labelled "radical pragmatism." Rather focusing attention on one issue the environment, economy, education the New Democrats are touching numerous social concerns that are building large-scale changes, he said. "It is a much more humble, circumspect, careful, but nonetheless ambitious program of change," said Black. "It's not legislation by thunderbolt. It's a kind of radical pragmatism." James said B.C.'s growing economy allows the government to pursue social, environmental and economic initiatives. "Certainly all of our economic indicators are very positive," James said, citing record low jobless rates and solid growth projections. "We're in a strong economic position. It certainly is my plan to go forward with a balanced budget." She said she expected the government's poverty reduction and climate change strategies to be priorities in the budget. The government passed legislation last year to cut B.C.s overall poverty rate by 25 per cent and the child poverty rate by 50 per cent over the first five years of the plan. The government's Clean BC climate plan, introduced last December, is slated to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, 60 per cent by 2040 and 80 per cent by 2050. By 2040, all new cars and trucks sold in B.C. will be zero emission and new buildings will be 80 per cent more efficient than now. "The poverty strategy will be a priority in this upcoming budget along with Clean BC," said James. "Both of those will certainly have a priority when it comes to budget 2019." Photo: The Canadian Press James Grein speaks at the Silence Stops Now rally in 2013 about his abuse at the hands of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been found guilty by the Vatican of sex abuse and defrocked, as calls rose Saturday for Pope Francis to reveal what he knew about the once-powerful American prelate's apparently decades-long predatory sexual behaviour. The announcement Saturday, delivered in uncharacteristically blunt language for the Vatican, meant that the 88-year-old McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., becomes the highest-ranking churchman and the first cardinal to be punished by dismissal from the clerical state, or laicization. He was notified Friday of the decision, which was upheld upon his appeal and approved by Pope Francis. The pontiff next week leads a summit of bishops from around the world who have been summoned to Rome help him grapple with the entrenched problems of clerical sex abuse and the systematic coverups by the Catholic church's hierarchy. Decades of revelations about priests who have sexually preyed on minors and their bosses who shuffled abusive clergy from parish to parish instead of removing them from access to children have shaken the faith of many Catholics. They also threaten the moral authority of Francis and even the survival of his papacy. McCarrick, who in his prestigious red cardinal robes hobnobbed with presidents, other VIP politicians and pontiffs, is now barred from celebrating Mass or other sacraments including confession and from wearing clerical garb. He is to be referred to as Mr. McCarrick. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Holy See's guardian of doctrinal purity, issued a decree on Jan. 11 finding McCarrick guilty of "solicitation in the sacrament of confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power," the Vatican said. That commandment forbids adultery. On Wednesday, Congregation officials considered his appeal and upheld the decree. The pope "recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accordance with (church) law, rendering it as 'res iudicata,'" the Vatican said, using the Latin phrase for admitting no further recourse. The McCarrick scandal was particularly damning to the church's reputation because it apparently was an open secret in some ecclesial circles that he slept with adult seminarians. Francis yanked McCarrick's rank as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation found credible an allegation he fondled a teenage altar boy in the 1970s. McCarrick's civil lawyer, Barry Coburn, said Saturday that his client had no comment on the defrocking. On February 15, answering a reporter's question on the recent US Navy ship passing through Vietnams Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, the spokeswoman affirmed: Vietnam's position on sovereignty, sovereignty rights and jurisdiction in the East Sea is clear, consistent with international law and has been emphasised many times. As a member country of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and a country along the East Sea, Vietnam always respects the freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, in accordance with the provisions of international law, in particular the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Hang stated, adding that the maritime claims and related actions of coastal states need to be consistent with international law as reflected in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Photo: CTV News A B.C. couple had acid thrown on them while vacationing in Vietnam and are now suffering from serious burns. On Feb. 9, Tammy Nguyen and her boyfriend Tom Vo were travelling on a motorbike on a dark road in the province of Quan Ngai en route to a lunar new year celebration when two strangers attacked. "They said something that we couldnt really understand and we both looked to our left and that's when they splashed the acidic water on us," Nguyen told CTV News via video chat from her hospital room. Both she and her boyfriend fell off their bike, and Vo's legs were slashed with a knife. "I had my purse on me but he didn't come get me. He just went straight for my boyfriend," Nguyen said. The two 25-year-olds own a nail salon in Port Coquitlam. Nguyen believes the attack was not random, but can't fathom why anyone would hurt them. They are now recovering in a Bangkok hospital. Nguyen said Vo's face is 90 per cent covered in burns, and he has limited sight. "Right now I am worried about Tom's eyes because he can only see about 15 to 20 per cent. He can barely open his eyes because of the burns," she said through tears. Nguyen herself is dealing with burns on her face, arms and legs. She said police in Vietnam are investigating but have not provided details. "Nobody deserves this, especially when you're on vacation and you're visiting family and all of a sudden, this happens. It's not a vacation anymore, it's a nightmare." -With files from CTV Vancouver During Sarah Boyle's address about the National Park Reserve to Oliver town council on Feb. 11, she let a nugget of information loose that perhaps residents of the South Okanagan-Similkameen would like to take a moment to consider with more scrutiny. Boyle stated that Parks Canada had received just over 1,000 feedback results for its online consultation. Consider the math: for the population of Oliver, Osoyoos, rural Oliver, Keremeos and Cawston, the community is approximately 19,500 people. This is a five per cent sample which submitted their wish list to Parks Canada for development of the park. When you add to this that the consultation is open to anyone in Canada, its easy to presume that some may come from outside the area. We have no way of knowing, because Parks Canada has not approved a request for a bonded third party to review the results, citing privacy concerns. Nearing the end of the NPR consultation period at the end of February, its likely that the establishment of the park may proceed with 1-5 per cent of the local population engaged in the discussion. This will be presented to a steering committee that contains no local residents' input, no elected local representative, operated by a federal organization based in Quebec. Contrast the previous numbers with the South Okanagan Similkameen Preservation Society's December 2018 poll, which found 59 per cent think the government has done a poor job of local consultation, and 76 per cent of respondents want a local referendum at the next federal election. It adds up to this: locals dont have enough faith in Parks Canada to answer their skewed consultation process. Its a very bad beginning with a new neighbour in a rural community. Locals we talk to say Parks Canada has no respect for what residents want to say. Given the results of cancelled meetings on Feb. 12-13, it appears Parks Canada will impede meetings if they don't work to its favour. Locals are being dictated to by Parks Canada, who is limiting the debate, controlling the sharing of information and the means to have any dialogue. Is this what's done when a National Park Reserve is such a good idea South Okanagan Similkameen Preservation Society The man was seen, running and on fire, by a security guard for M&T Bank Stadium around 3 p.m., according to Blair Skinner, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Fire Department, said Sunday. By the time medics arrived, the man was dead and three portable toilets were on fire. It wasnt clear how long he had been in the toilet or what had caused the fire. Skinner said arson teams with the Baltimore Police Department would be investigating. The Lance Corporal Matt Snyder Camp Snoops Project, founded in May, was established to honor Westminster High School graduate Matthew Snyder by initiating patriotic educational ceremonies in schools around Memorial Day and Veterans Day. The organization's focus is to enhance Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies by providing event materials, outlines and ideas to help educate students, while also recognizing and honoring veterans. The kind of treatment Kaitlyn received is whats known as a targeted therapy using a drug that only works in certain patients, on specific tumors by attacking particular molecules that allow the tumor to grow. It wont work for all kids with the same kind of cancer. Researchers at Hopkins and across the country are conducting another trial of the drug to learn from Kaitlyns outcome. They want to know how to make the treatment more effective for other pediatric brain tumors. In addition to working on writing his biography and trying to help raise the visibility of Arena Players the historic African-American community theater long supported by Parks Johnson has also been talking to Maryland Stadium Authority officials about placing a plaque on the grounds of M&T Bank Stadium near where the sausage factory once had one of its factories. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. There is a group of devoted volunteers at the shelter whose mission is to save and improve the lives of homeless animals in the county. They run a nonprofit called Friends of Anne Arundel County Animal Care and Control Inc., and ask for community and individual donations to cover such things as emergency vet care, flea and tick medications, and occasional visits by veterinarians as well as many other necessities to make our shelter a humane and loving home for as long as needed. We must appeal to their financial interests. Short- and long-term rental opportunities above first-floor retail have obvious benefits. The former will boost tourism spending while the latter will deliver more downtown residents. Upgrades will result in higher property tax collections for the city while new residents will infuse more dollars into the downtown community. Part of the incident was apparently captured in video posted to the Instagram account @murder_ink_bmore, which shows someone walking up to the group outside the mall and aiming a handgun at one of the people. The group immediately disperses, and the pop of gunshots is followed by the sound of running, screams echoing through the mall and shouts of What happened? Nearly two years after he hung a noose at Crofton Middle School, Conner Prout stood in front of the Anne Arundel County chapter of the NAACP on Saturday afternoon to recount what hes learned. At the time I viewed it as a cheap scare to the students and faculty at Crofton Middle, and I assumed it would be forgotten in a days time, he said. Since then, he said, Ive realized the noose wasnt just a cheap scare. It had truly terrified people. His speech and presentation of artwork marked the final event in his court-ordered community service and the first time, according to one official, that the Anne Arundel County NAACP has participated in a restorative justice case. Thats an approach that tries to rehabilitate criminals by providing them opportunities to reconcile with victims and the broader community. The event also came as Maryland has experienced a spike in reported hate crimes and incidents -- especially in schools. Prout had pleaded guilty to a hate crime after he and another 19-year-old, John Havermann, hung the noose on May 11, 2017, around 1 a.m. At the time, the school had a 19 percent African-American and 63 percent white student population. Then-principal Nuria E. Williams, who is black, testified in Havermanns trial that she felt the school was targeted because of the color of her skin. Prout spoke Saturday in front of about 50 mostly African-American NAACP members at their monthly meeting at the Kingdom Celebration Center in Odenton. He said that he hung the noose as an image of suicide and that he and Havermann chose Crofton Middle because he had attended school there. He said he regretted not being more aware of the racist implications at the time. Vickie Gipson, an Anne Arundel lawyer who was recently elected as an Anne Arundel Orphans Court judge, helped to oversee Prouts community service over the last year and a half. She said that Prout, like many teenagers, had suicidal ideations at the time but that he should have known how a noose would be seen by people of color. The fact that he didnt speaks to the failure of school system, she said. Prout pleaded guilty to harassing/committing a crime upon a person because of that person's race/religion and was sentenced to 18 months probation and 120 hours of community service. Havermann did not take the same plea deal and was convicted of two trespassing charges but found not guilty of the hate crime charges. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Paul Harris Jr. said that the prosecutor, Wes Adams, failed to show Havermann acted out of hatred or racist intentions toward African-Americans at the school. On Saturday, Prout presented three drawings to the group to describe the what he has learned about racism, inequality and the history of the noose. One of them was a black-and-red rendering of an African-American woman that he drew after meeting with Williams and two parents of Crofton Middle children. I wanted to portray how African-Americans suffer from hate crimes and of the need to rebuild courage and morale within the African-American community after an event occurs, he said. Prout said the greatest influence on him was the discussion group Coming to the Table, which he attended on a monthly basis during his community service. I feel this group taught me the most regarding the current issues of racism and inequality and crucial historical events, he said. Coming to the Table is a confidential discussion group where around 20 people of diverse backgrounds talk honestly about subjects like white supremacy and blackface without worrying about being called out in public. The gatherings have gained popularity across the nation, including in the Baltimore area, over the last two years. Prout drew a tree surrounded by symbols representing different aspects of Coming to the Table. I wanted circular pattern to represent unity and connection that I feel present at Coming to the Table and a nature theme to show sense of growth and evolution representing my journey. After his 15-minute presentation, the group gave Prout a standing ovation. Gipson said she was proud of Prout. You really dove in to this and made sure you got the most of it, she told him. She said his community service was notable in that it was the first restorative justice case that the Anne Arundel County NAACP has taken on. She said she hoped it would not be the last. New legislation introduced in the states General Assembly session could help toward that end. Maryland House Bill 240, sponsored by Baltimore City Del. Sandy Rosenberg, would enable judges to require those convicted of hate crimes to perform community service and attend certain classes as a condition of their release. Gipson said she believes the community service has no doubt changed him. Jacqueline Allsup, president of the Anne Arundel NAACP, said, Weve seen major growth in Conner from the day he started to completion of his community service. The most important part is his honesty in presenting what was going on with him. Anne Arundel, like the rest of the state, has seen a spike in reported hate crimes and incidents especially in schools. Earlier this month, the Anne Arundel Board of Education mandated that all students take a diversity course as a requirement to graduation. On Wednesday, someone distributed a flyer to incoming ninth-graders at South River High School encouraging a protest of the newly mandated diversity course, calling it a radical leftist course mandate. Prout, who said he recalled lynching and nooses briefly covered in his school curriculum, thinks what learned in school was not enough, and thinks the diversity course is a good idea. I think it will help a lot of people greatly, he said. crentz@baltsun.com twitter.com/cdrentz After the seven minutes and eight seconds it took for my blood to fill the bag with a pint, I stepped into the recovery area where I met Kevin Kohler, who knew Winters from being a Teen of the Week in 1991 and her follow-up feature on him in 2017, as well as some writing he used to do for The Capital. In the 1950s an addition was built and the name was changed to Ralph J Bunche School, to honor one of the most prominent African American men at that time. Among his many accomplishments, Bunche was the first African American to receive a doctorate in political science from Harvard. Later a U.N. mediator, he negotiated the armistice that ended the first Arab-Israeli war and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his work. A Muslim man was kneeling for his evening prayers in the back room of a corner store when a bullet, allegedly fired by Carter, came through the wall and struck him in the head. He died instantly. Prosecutors said two people were killed by Carter the other was shot through his neck while walking down the street. In addition, several others were wounded, they said. | BY Ricki Green | Bani McSpedden, former creative director of award-winning advertising agency McSpedden Carey, which he co-founded with author Peter Carey, is launching Australias first independent, authorative website dedicated to watches, Watch-Next.com. McSpedden (left), who is now Fairfax Media and The Australian Financial Reviews watch editor has joined forces with Fairfax Media and the AFR to create the website. The site launches in October. Watch-Next.com will build on the AFR Magazines unparalleled reputation for covering the watch sector with integrity, style and substance. Over the past nine years AFR Magazines watch coverage has expanded to include two watch issues a year and a monthly column written by McSpedden. The latest Watch issue, out in the August AFR Magazine this Friday, is the biggest yet at 52 pages. Says McSpedden: The AFR Magazine has led coverage of the watch sector in Australia. Expanding our online presence is a natural extension of that. Watch-Next.com will feature a number of content firsts in Australia including watch video reviews, interviews with industry leaders and personalities, the latest news, events and commentary and dedicated brand sections. As he does for the AFR Magazine, McSpedden will take a global approach to the sector, covering the annual watch fairs in Basel and Geneva and events across the region as well as at home. The impetus for the site has been strong growth in Australias luxury watch market, increasing at 13 per cent a year, and the fact that many people looking to purchase a watch research online before they buy. It is expected that $226 million worth of watches will be imported into Australia from Switzerland this year. Says Sean Aylmer, Fairfax Media director of news and business: For the past decade the AFR Magazine has defined mass coverage of the luxury watch market in Australia and the local luxury market is growing, with 85 per cent of our readers intending to buy a watch worth $4,000 or more. Watch-Next.com will also deliver to advertisers the opportunity to speak to a premium and informed audience via a unique and multi-layered platform. Advertisers will be able to be part of Watch-Next.com in a variety of ways, including sponsorship of premium branded sections in which they will enjoy a 100 per cent share of voice. Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Do Minh Hung (L) and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (Photo: VNA) At a meeting with the diplomat following the presentation, the Israeli President welcomed Ambassador Hung to take the new position, affirming that the State of Israel will create optimal conditions for him to fulfil his tasks. President Rivlin recalled his impression and the fruitful outcomes of his official visit to Vietnam in March 2017. He showed his delight at the substantial and effective development in the Israel-Vietnam partnership, saying that he believes the bilateral ties, especially in economy, education and science-technology, will continue expanding. He extended his regards to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and said that he will soon send his invitation to the Vietnamese leader to visit Israel in order to promote bilateral friendship and sound partnership between the two countries. For his part, Ambassador Hung pledged that he will work hard to contribute to further strengthening cooperation between the two countries. He briefed his host of Vietnams major achievements in socio-economic development, external relations and international integration over the years. The Government and people of Vietnam hope to bolster affiliation with Israel in various fields, he stated. The diplomat mentioned key orientations and objectives during his office tenure, with focus on boosting bilateral collaboration in economy-trade, science-technology, innovation, and people-to-people exchange. The ambassador also conveyed best regards from Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong to President Rivlin and people of Israel./. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load It was previously vandalized, and in October 2018 the church received a threatening phone call objecting to its support of the LGBTQ community, according to the Rev. David Norse Thomas, who has led the church since October 2017. The incidents have only motivated the congregation to continue to support adversely affected communities, according to Norse Thomas. Shortly after 11:30 a.m., he was driving eastbound on Route 100 and lost control at Quarterfield Road, police said. His Toyota Scion struck a guardrail on the right shoulder then veered back into traffic. The car flipped onto a Honda Civic also traveling eastbound. The factory of the Tinh Loi garment factory in Lai Vu Industrial Park in Kinh Thanh district, Hai Duong province (Photo: VNA) MoIT data showed that Vietnams total trade revenue reached USD40.8 billion in January, up 1.8 percent from the previous month and 0.89 percent year on year. That included about USD20 billion in exports, up 1.9 percent from December. Overseas shipments by domestic companies rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier to USD6.42 billionwhile those, including crude oil exports, by foreign invested firms dropped 5.1 percent to USD13.58 billion. Exports of agro-forestry-fishery products were estimated at USD2.26 billion, up 3.1 percent month on month and accounting for 11.28 percent of total exports. Most items in this category like fruit and vegetables, cassava and cassava products, coffee and pepper posted fast growth, the MoIT said. Meanwhile, exports in the manufacturing industry reached USD16.42 billion, up 1.6 percent from last December and making up more than 82 percent of total revenue. Big contributors included mobile phones and components, textile and garment, computers, other electronic products and components and footwear. Partially thanks to free trade agreements, Vietnams exports to most markets sustained the upward trend in January. The US was the biggest destination of Vietnamese goods with a turnover of USD4.05 billion, increasing by 11.8 percent from the same period last year. Sharing the same trend, import turnover in January was estimated at USD20.8 billion, up 1.7 percent month on month. That resulted in a total trade deficit of USD800 million, equivalent to 4 percent of export revenue. Meanwhile, most imported goods were materials for production, which is a positive sign of production expansion by both domestic and foreign invested firms this year. The MoIT predicted more export growth opportunities in the future when a foldable smartphone model and the Galaxy S10 series of Samsung, a large electronic product manufacturer in Vietnam, will make global debuts later in February. Additionally, the capacity of this business factories in the country is expected to be maximised in 2019 as Samsung Electronics has shut down its mobile phone factory in Chinas Tianjin city and has encountered production difficulties in India. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) officially took effect in 2019, which is also hoped to help Vietnamese goods raise their market share in member countries like Canada, New Zealand and Australia, according to the MoIT./. At the Angelus, Pope Francis urges us not to fall prey to the "master of illusion" who "promise quick success, great profits, magical solutions to every problem". It is easy to slip into idolatry: "replacing God with an idol". A prayer for the meeting at the Vatican with the presidents of Episcopal Conferences from across the globe on the protection of minors. Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Jesus Beatitudes are a decisive message, which spurs us not to put our trust in material and passing things; not to seek happiness following peddlers in empty promises who so often are peddlers of death masters of illusion, said Pope Francis commenting on today's Gospel (6th Sunday for year, C, Lk 6, 17, 20-26), on the Beatitudes according to Saint Luke. With the four Beatitudes (for "the poor, the hungry, the afflicted, the persecuted") and the four "troubles" to "rich, satisfied, laughing and acclaimed by the people", the Gospel invites us " to reflect on the profound meaning of having faith, which consists in trusting the Lord totally. Its about pulling down the worldly idols to open the heart to the true and living God. Only He can give to our existence that so desired fullness yet difficult to attain. Brothers and sisters, there are many, in fact, also in our days, who put themselves forward as dispensers of happiness: they come and promise success in good times, great earnings within reach, magical solutions to every problem, and so on. And here its easy to slide, without realizing it, into the sin against the first Commandment: namely, idolatry, to substitute God with an idol. Idolatry and idols seem like things of other times, but in reality, they are of all times! also of today. They describe some contemporary attitudes better than many sociological analyses." "We are called to happiness, to be blessed and we become so, as of now, in the measure in which we put ourselves on the side of God, of his Kingdom, on the side of whats not ephemeral but lasts for eternal life. We are happy if we acknowledge ourselves needy before God and this is very important: Lord, I need You and if, like Him and with Him, we are close to the poor, the afflicted and the hungry. We become capable of joy every time that having the goods of this world, we dont make them idols, to which we sell our soul, but are capable of sharing them with our brothers. On this the liturgy invites us today, once again, to question ourselves and to have the truth in our heart". "Jesus Beatitudes are a decisive message, which spurs us not to put our trust in material and passing things; not to seek happiness following peddlers in empty promises who so often are peddlers of death masters of illusion. Its not necessary to follow them, because they are incapable of giving us hope. The Lord helps us to open our eyes, to acquire a more penetrating look on reality, to be healed from our chronic myopia, with which the worldly spirit infects us. He shakes us with His paradoxical Word and makes us recognize what really enriches us, fills us, gives us joy and dignity, in sum, what really gives meaning and fullness to our life. May the Virgin Mary help us to listen to this Gospel with an open mind and heart, so that it bears fruit in our lives and we become witnesses of the happiness that doesnt disappoint, Gods happiness, which never disappoints". After the Marian prayer, the pontiff announced that from February 21 to 24 a meeting will be held with the presidents of the world episcopal conferences on the theme of the protection of minors in the Church. Dying every word, the pope added: "I invite you to pray for this appointment, which I wanted as an act of strong pastoral responsibility before an urgent challenge of our time". Just yesterday, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dismissed the former cardinal Theodore McCarrick from the clerical state, found guilty of child abuse. Twenty-seven of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were killed in a suicide bombing near the border earlier this week. Jafari was addressing a large crowd gathered for the funeral of the victims of Wednesday's suicide bombing. (Photo:Twitter) Dubai: Iran warned neighbouring Pakistan on Saturday it would "pay a heavy price" for allegedly harbouring terrorists who killed 27 of its elite Revolutionary Guards in a suicide bombing near the border earlier this week, state television reported. Revolutionary Guards chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari also accused Tehran's regional rival Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of supporting terrorist groups that attack Iranian forces, saying they could face "reprisal operations." Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE deny backing such terrorists. "Why do Pakistan's army and security body ... give refuge to these anti-revolutionary groups? Pakistan will no doubt pay a high price," Jafari said in remarks live on state television. Jafari was addressing a large crowd gathered for the funeral of the victims of Wednesday's suicide bombing, which took place in a southeastern region where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by terrorists from the country's Sunni Muslim minority. "Just in the past year, six or seven suicide attacks were neutralised but they were able to carry out this one," Jafari told the mourners, who packed a square in the central city of Isfahan and roads leading to it. 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 treacherous Saudi and UAE governments should know that Iran's patience has ended and we will no longer stand your secret support for these anti-Islam criminals," Jafari said. "We will avenge the blood of our martyrs from the Saudi and UAE governments and ask the President (Hassan Rouhani) ... to leave our hands free more than ever for reprisal operations," Jafari told the crowd, drawing chants. Iran's Shi'ite Muslim authorities say terrorist groups operate from safe havens in Pakistan and have repeatedly called on the neighbouring country to crack down on them. Jafari's remarks came amid heightening regional tensions after Israel and the Gulf Arab states attended a summit in the Polish capital Warsaw this week where the United States hoped to ratchet up pressure against Iran. India insists Mr Jadhav was not a spy, and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. The Hague: India will ask the UNs top court, International Court of Justice (ICJ), on Monday to order Pakistan to take Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, a retired Naval officer, off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir. Mr Jadhav was arrested in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court. Mr Jadhav has denied the charges. India insists Mr Jadhav was not a spy, and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi in court documents is asking that the ICJ order Islamabad to annul the sentence. The ICJ urgently ordered Pakistan in 2017 to stay the execution of Mr Jadhav, pending hearings on the broader Indian case that take place this week in The Hague. Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens. Washington: US national security adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday that America supports Indias right to self-defence. Mr Bolton telephoned Mr Doval on Friday morning to express his condolences for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered the US full support to India in confronting terrorism. I told Ajit Doval today that we support Indias right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... And expressed the US condolences over the terrorist attack, he told PTI. Mr Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens. We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis, he said. Earlier, the White House and secretary of state Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country. We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security, Mr Pompeo said on Twitter. In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to immediately end its support to all terror groups and not to provide safe haven to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF soldiers. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammd (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack. Decisions taken at a political level in government are implemented without question at the operational level. The vice of transfers of police officials and civil servants has for long plagued public life and administration in India. The latest example of this gross abuse of power by ministers comes from Kerala. On Jan 25, the Kerala government, run by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), removed Chaithra Teresa John from her post as temporary deputy commissioner of police, after she raided the party's district office. The second report of the National Police Commission (1979) censured the practice. When it is not possible to punish a police officer legally, it is very easy to subject him to administrative action by way of transfer or suspension. Its threat is the most potent weapon in the hands of the minister to bend the police to his will. Forty years later, the situation, far from improving, has worsened. In states like Uttar Pradesh, each incoming government transfers civil servant and police officers en masse; right down to the level of superintendent. District magistrates are particularly targeted. Such pressures on the police system from political and other extraneous sources weaken the normal chain of command, which has to operate efficiently if discipline is to be maintained. Interference at the operational level results in the total bypassing of supervisory officers. Subordinate officers see every day that their superior officers count little in the ultimate disposal matters that would normally lie within their official cognisance. Decisions taken at a political level in government are implemented without question at the operational level. In May 1997, Justice Markandey Katju (then on the bench of the Allahabad High Court) delivered a strong and comprehensive judgement on transfers. The petitioner, a health centre worker, was transferred from Gopiganj to Bhadohi in June 1996. In August, the transfer order was cancelled. She alleged that it was done at the instance of Phoolan Devi, MP, which was also brazenly stated in cancellation order itself. The judge held that "...the impugned order is wholly arbitrary as it has been passed solely on the dictates of a politician (as the order expressly states) and not on any administrative exigency. ... A highly pernicious virus which has crept into the governance of this state; namely the blatant and persistent abuse of the power of transfer and posting of government servants on political, caste, monetary or other extraneous considerations instead of on administrative considerations and in the public interest. ... It is regrettable that in this state (and perhaps in other states too) transfer appears to have become an industry. Government servants are often treated like shuttlecocks, to be banged and battered around frequently without any thought of the effect this is having on their morale and on the administration." To support the comment, he cited that from March 1991 to March 1997, as many as 16 senior superintendents had been appointed in Allahabad, some lasting for a month or two and one lasting for a mere 24 hours. Changes in government trigger a spate of transfers. Politicisation of the services and transfers feed on each other. The Supreme Court has deprecated the practice but done little to end it. In one notable case, an upright officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation, N.K. Singh, claimed he was victimised because he had investigated Sanjay Gandhi and his gang's destruction of the film Kissa Kursi Ka. The Chandra Shekhar government, propped up by Rajiv Gandhi, elevated him to a different post. He rightly complained this punishment in the guise of elevation. Justice J.S. Verma shut his eyes to the obvious and, instead, criticised Singh, who was universally respected for his integrity and independence. B.K. Nehru was also known for these qualities. In retirement he fought for the civil service. He wrote in his memoirs about his studies while serving as high commissioner to the UK: All the three powers which are exercised by the minister in India to bend the civil servant to his will, namely, appointments, transfers and suspensions, are not exercisable by them at all in the United Kingdom. They are exercised by a very small group of senior secretaries presided over by the secretary of the Civil Service Department who reports to the prime minister direct. It is they who appoint people, transfer them and punish them, not the ministers. The prime minister of course approves their proposals, but when I asked the head of the Civil Service Department what would happen if the prime minister refused to sign, he was shocked out of his wits. He said, 'But that can't happen'. Such is the power of conventions of the British constitution, which, if broken, would lead to a furore in parliament. Conventions are always broken. Maybe legislation will help. Will the officials of the civil service and police muster enough courage to unite and demand such legislation? By arrangement with Dawn US withdrawal will leave the Taliban as the main organised force in the country. The Afghan Taliban have emerged from the shadows to claim the right to again govern Afghanistan. Although the process may be tortuous, they are likely to succeed. Apart from President Ashraf Ghani and his coterie, and some others in Kabul, most Afghan groups and leaders appear ready to negotiate an Afghan political structure in which the Taliban would play a dominant role. The Talibans impending triumph would vindicate the long-standing assessment of Pakistans security establishment that the US would eventually leave Afghanistan while the Taliban would prove resilient and eventually return to power. They have now been invited to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad where there is justifiable expectation of a resumed close relationship with Afghanistan once the Taliban assume a leading political role in Kabul. Contrary to the propaganda spread by its adversaries about "strategic depth", Pakistan's core interest is the establishment of durable peace and stability in Afghanistan. There are four formidable challenges which still stand in the way. The first, of course, is the development of an intra-Afghan consensus on the new structure of governance. US withdrawal will leave the Taliban as the main organised force in the country. The old north-south divide has been replaced by more complex power dynamics where, apart from the Taliban, power is exercised by a number of ethnic and regional groups and warlords and by several terrorist groups such as the Islamic State-Khorasan, Al Qaeda and their affiliates. Like the US, Afghanistan's neighbours Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China are all anxious to see a governance structure in Kabul which will oppose these groups. The Taliban have assured the US and others that they will not allow Afghan territory to be used again for extra-territorial terrorism. Unfortunately, there are firmly held suspicions that some of these groups are being used by some state actors against their adversaries. Russia and Iran have accused the US of supporting IS-K elements in parts of Afghanistan. China has questions about the Uighur separatist ETIM's presence there. Sponsored by Indian and Afghan intelligence, the TTP, HuA and the BLA conduct cross-border attacks against Pakistan from eastern Afghanistan. Tehran complains about anti-Iran extremist Sunni groups on its borders with Afghanistan (and Pakistan). In these circumstances, the US proposal that it retain a small counter-terrorism force in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of its troops is unlikely to be palatable either to the Taliban or most of Afghanistan's neighbours. Restoring peace in Afghanistan will also require money lots of it. The US is spending an estimated $45 billion annually in Afghanistan, largely on its own military. An estimated $6-8bn is spent annually on the Afghan security forces and a fraction on the civilian government and programmes. Several billion dollars will be needed yearly to rehabilitate and reconstruct Afghanistan. Without money, the Afghan National Army would disintegrate, unpaid militias would resort to banditry and the country could descend into chaos. The US is unlikely to provide existing levels of military or civilian financing, especially if its counter-terrorism presence is rejected. Among Afghanistan's neighbours only China, Saudi Arabia and some other GCC countries can afford large financial outlays. In consultation with the Taliban, other interested Afghan parties, and neighboring countries, Pakistan should activate regional development institutions (Islamic Development Bank, China Development Bank, etc) to identify and develop a plan to meet Afghanistan's reconstruction and development requirements. Islamabad could then convene an international conference to secure the financial commitments to implement these plans. Finally, durable peace and security in Afghanistan will depend on the level and nature of external interference in its internal affairs. This, in turn, will depend on whether the major powers, specially Russia, China and the US, cooperate to rebuild Afghanistan or if their strategic competition, radiating globally from Europe, the Middle East and the 'Indo-Pacific', envelops Afghanistan and its neighbourhood. Sadly, in Washington at least, the impulse for competition appears stronger than the compulsion of cooperation. Like Pakistan, Afghanistan will find it difficult to sit on the fence in the widening Sino-US rivalry. In another repeat of history, Kabul, under the Taliban, may move closer to Beijing, Moscow and Tehran, rather than Washington and its allies. By arrangement with Dawn All three have condemned terrorism in general terms but shown no evidence of berating Pakistani sponsorship of terror. The deadly Pulwama terrorist attack raises multiple questions about the motive of the perpetrators and handlers, the timing and context, considering that the Lok Sabha elections in India and the American-steered Afghan settlement are fast approaching. The Narendra Modi government has been caught off guard, as our intelligence and operational readiness did not provide for altered tactics by the militants, on the backfoot after operational losses. Merely scanning for IEDs and moving long and unwieldy convoys without anticipating a car bomb was asking for disaster. The BJP, realising this, is trying to turn the argument around to reap the nations ire by having its cadres and leaders attend the funerals of the 49 slain CRPF personnel. But for a party that vowed zero tolerance of terror and briefed the nation with jingoistic fervour on the surgical strike after the Uri attack and then revelled in its immortalising through a Bollywood film, there is a dilemma now. The public seeks greater retribution now that Pakistan, not having been deterred, has unleashed the next attack, more audacious and lethal than the last one. Meanwhile, the geopolitical context has shifted from what it was during the Uri attack in 2016. First, the United States, led by the always-transactional President Donald Trump, is bent on withdrawing troops from the region and focused on trade and domestic issues. Although his national security adviser John Bolton has called his Indian counterpart and apparently endorsed this countrys right to self-defence or military retaliation, its not tantamount to open military backing. This, unlike in the past when the US would urgently push for restraint and pressure Pakistan to curb its terror syndicates, is different. Next, the three nations, in descending order of influence, that can alter Pakistani behaviour, are China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. All three have condemned terrorism in general terms but shown no evidence of berating Pakistani sponsorship of terror. Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with his reputation tainted by murder charges, is stopping by in Pakistan before his India visit on February 19. Some in India celebrated the fact that he had curtailed his Pakistan visit by one day. It turns out he had reasons other than snubbing Pakistan, where a red carpet is being unrolled, including a possible meeting with Taliban representatives, as they meet the US under Pakistani supervision. Similarly, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Abu Dhabi a week ago and received with much pomp and ceremony. The two crown princes, of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are allies in the Yemen war and overall in countering Iran. Alongside China, they have bailed out Pakistan financially, but whether they are willing and able to use that leverage to get Pakistan to do what US President George W. Bush made President Pervez Musharraf do in 2002 remains to be seen. In 2001, following the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the Jaish-e-Mohammed audaciously attacked Indias Parliament in December. It was aimed to compel India to retaliate militarily, thus allowing Pakistan to withdraw its troops from its western front, where the US was compelling it to seal the border and catch fleeing Al Qaeda and Taliban elements. Although the then Atal Behari Vajpayee government battle-deployed the Indian Army, the US restrained India after getting Pakistan to ban both Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and JeM. The role now falls on China and the two GCC allies of Pakistan. So far China has only issued anodyne statements but its influence would be exercised quietly. Similarly, whether Crown Prince Salman will press Pakistan to act against abettors of terror is moot. It is unclear what the Modi government would find as minimum acceptable to avoid a military response that may exceed the past surgical strike, which only targeted the training and launch pads of militants. For one, Pakistan must, like in 2002, immediately detain Masood Azhar, reportedly suffering from renal failure, and his associates. Also, China will have to lift its veto on the listing of Azhar as an international terrorist by the UN Security Council committee. But can Khan get the Pakistani military to agree when the Afghan endgame seems in Pakistans grasp and the strategic depth visible for resuming a wider anti-India game. Pakistan cannot ignore the fact that Iran, perhaps not coincidentally, has blamed Pakistan for a similar killing of IRGC soldiers. Iran sees the US, Saudi and Emirati strategic interest converging with the Taliban, despite its investment in cultivating the Taliban since at least 2005. For instance, Mullah Mansoor, successor to Taliban founder Mullah Omar, was killed in a 2016 US drone strike in Balochistan, apparently re-entering Pakistan from the Iranian border. It was speculated he was eliminated by intelligence given by Pakistans ISI as he was adopting an independent line on the Afghan peace talks. But an additional problem, as the Lok Sabha polls approach, is the BJPs slipping popularity over distress across rural, informal and industrial parts of economy. Does Pulwama provide Modi a Kargil-2 moment? But military options present problems of escalation control, as a widened confrontation can damage the economy and the governments image. The operation must be calibrated to satisfy public opinion without spiralling into a tit-for-tat India-Pakistan violence cycle. But India does not have a conventional arms edge that allows quick dominance, degrading of the Pakistani terror infrastructure and deterrence of any Pakistani retaliation. Militants in the pipeline must by now have been dispersed. Waiting to strike when they return has virtue, but the polls timetable compels immediate action. It is possible that JeM and its ISI handlers are not keeping the top military levels in the loop on all operations. If that is so, the denials of Pakistani complicity do not help. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistans Army Chief, must immediately align with Khans government and accept that JeM, having immediately taken credit for the attack, deserves to be punished. Ironically, the much-maligned Saudi Crown Prince can play the statesman and retrieve lost credibility if he can push Pakistan to act and have India restrain its hand. The next few days and weeks are crucial for South Asias future. These line of the poet W.B. Yeats sound ominously appropriate: Turning and turning in widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. Curfew in Jammu 3rd day; but clashes, stone-pelting incidents continue. Srinagar: The security cover of five top separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was withdrawn by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities on Sunday, a decision that comes in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack where over 40 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said. Their security was withdrawn with immediate effect, an official said. Earlier, the J&K government had issued a formal order saying that all security personnel and vehicles provided to the separatists will stand withdrawn by Sunday evening. No security forces or cover will be provided, under any pretext, to them or any other separatists, officials said. They also said that other facilities, if any, provided by the government to these leaders would also be withdrawn forthwith. Besides the Mirwaiz, the security cover to Hurriyat Conference (Mirwaiz) leaders Prof. Abdul Gani Butt and Bilal Gani Lone, J&K Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahmed Shah and Jammu Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party chairman Muhammad Hashim Qureshi has also been withdrawn, the order said. Jammu city continued, meanwhile, to reel under curfew for the third consecutive day Sunday. The states winter capital was brought under indefinite curfew and the police and paramilitary personnel were fanned out in the city on Friday to enforce it after incidents of arson and attacks on the members of Muslim community during a bandh called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry against the massacre of CRPF jawans in the Pulwama suicide attack. Mr Qureshi had along with his cousin Ashraf Qureshi hijacked an Indian Airlines Fokker Friendship aircraft (Ganga) on January 30, 1971 en route from Srinagar to Jammu and took it to Lahore. After heading the Pakistan and Azad Kashmir chapter of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front for several years, he migrated to the Netherlands, and after spending over a decade there returned to India. The officials said the police will review if there are any other separatist leaders who have security or any other government-provided facilities, which will be withdrawn immediately as well. Union home minister Rajnath Singh had during his visit to Srinagar on Friday said that security given to people getting funds from Pakistan and its intelligence agency ISI should be reviewed. Some elements in Jammu and Kashmir have links with the ISI and terrorist organisations. Their security should be reviewed, he had said, after reviewing security in the aftermath of a suicide attack in which 49 CRPF personnel were killed and several others injured. Reacting to the official announcement that Shabir Shah was among the separatist leaders whose security cover had been withdrawn, a spokesman of his party said: It is ridiculous. He has been incarcerated in Delhis Tihar jail for more than 20 months now. His wife Dr Bilqees Shah said: Im married to Shah Sahib for the last 22 years. Ive never seen any security cover provided to him. He was offered it a couple of times, but he refused to accept it. The Mirwaiz said he had never asked for security and that its withdrawal would not make any difference to him. After my father was assassinated, some police officials visited our home to say that I am being provided security cover by the government. When I told them that I dont need it, they said the decision has to be taken by the government and not by me, he told this newspaper. He added that the withdrawal of security cover to him would not stop him from asking for a resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per the wishes and aspirations of its people, nor can it lead to any curtailment of his engagements as religious and political leader. It will have no bearing on my daily routine, he said. A statement issued by the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat Conference said: The government and its propagandist anti-Kashmir media had repeatedly been racking up the issue of police personnel having been provided to the resistance leadership to politicise the issue, knowing fully well that it has no bearing nor can it in any way change the reality of the lingering Kashmir dispute or the situation on ground or affect our principled stand and outlook regarding its resolution. The statement said the Hurriyat leaders had never asked for security. In fact, it was the government that insisted on posting police personnel at their respective residences based on what they said was their assessment of the threat perception. It was the governments decision at that time to provide security and it is now its decision to withdraw it. Its not an issue for us. Meanwhile, a report from Jammu said that while curfew continued in force, there were stone-pelting incidents and clashes in at least three areas of the city overnight. At places, rival crowds confronted each other by chanting slogans. A police official said the crowds raised provocative slogans adding to the existing tension. An official spokesman in Jammu said that protests were held on Saturday evening in the citys Nai Basti, Bantalab, Domana and Parade Ground areas, but the situation was quickly brought under control. The Army has held flag marches in some areas of Jammu and heightened security at some other sensitive places to help the police and Central armed forces maintain law and order. The petitioner Ashwani Kumar is one of the accused and he was arrested in Nov last year for injecting sedatives to girls at Muzaffarpur shelter home. Patna: Reports of the CBI probe against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case have caused rumblings in political circles here. RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha who recently joined the RJD-led grand alliance was the first to demand Mr Kumars resignation saying that, fair probe is not possible if he continues to hold the CMs chair. The situation occurred after a lawyer, Sudhir Kumar Ojha, said that the court while hearing the petition of his client Ashwani Kumar has directed the CBI to examine the role of the chief minister and others in connection with shelter home sexual abuse case. Reacting sharply to development, the ruling JD(U) on Sunday called forwarding of the petition to the CBI a routine process and said that the special POCSO court has not passed any order to the CBI to probe the role of chief minister in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case. Talking to this newspaper, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that, No such order has been given by the special court. It has no power to pass such an order to the CBI. It is a routine proc-ess that whenever an accused moves a petition the court forwards it to the investigating agencies for consideration. On Sunday despite strong denial from the ruling party, Sudhir Kumar Ojha maintained that such an order was passed by the special POCSO court on Saturday and he would receive the copy of the order on Monday or Tuesday. The petitioner Ashwani Kumar is one of the accused and he was arrested in November last year for injecting sedatives to girls at Muzaffarpur shelter home. According to lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha, Ashwani Kumar in his four-page petition submitted to the court said that If CBI investigates Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Principal Secretary Atul Prasad, former Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Dharmendra Singh, and other officials then their role can also be exposed in the case. A week after the state government handed over the case to the CBI in July last year social welfare minister Manju Verma had stepped down from the post following allegations that her husband had links with main accused Brajesh Thakur. The USP of our Chief Minister has been good governance and it was our government which handed over the shelter home case to CBI. All those who are speaking against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar must see with whom they are standing today, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said. Saudi Arabia has extremely close ties with Pakistan and wields considerable influence on it. New Delhi: India is likely to take up Pakistans role in the horrific Pulwama terror attack with the Saudi crown prince who arrives in India on a two-day visit starting Tuesday. Saudi Arabia has extremely close ties with Pakistan and wields considerable influence on it. Meanwhile, according to news agency reports, the Saudi envoy in New Delhi said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans visit to India presents a historic opportunity to expand collaboration in all sectors. Counter-terrorism and energy security are expected to dominate the agenda for discussions during the trip. Saudi Arabia and India share age-old ties of friendship that are deepening with each passing day, Saudi ambassador Saud Mohammad Al Sati was quoted by news agencies as saying. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salmans visit to India is highly anticipated and presents a historic opportunity to expand collaboration between our two friendly countries in all fields, Saudi Ambassador Saud Mohammad Al Sati was quoted by news agencies as saying, adding, In our common pursuit for development and stability, Saudi Arabia sees India as an important strategic partner and valued friend. In a statement last week, the MEA had said, At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, HRH Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is paying his first State visit to India on February 19-20, 2019. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen. New Delhi had also said, During the forthcoming visit, HRH the Crown Prince of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will call on Honble President and Honble Vice President, and hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wide range of issues of mutual interest. The visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia in April 2016, during which the two countries agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership. The MEA had added, India and Saudi Arabia have historically enjoyed close and friendly relations anchored in mutually beneficial partnership and extensive people to people contacts. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade & investment, infrastructure, defence and security. Modi also mentioned the 10 per cent reservation given by the government to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of the upper caste. Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during the inauguration and foundation stone-laying ceremony of various development projects in Begusarai on Sunday. (Photo: PTI) Patna: Hailing the sacrifice of CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that he feels the same anguish and pain as every Indian over the deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. I can feel the fire that has been burning in your heart after our soldiers were martyred in Pulwama. The same fire is burning in my heart, the Prime Minister said at a public meeting after laying foundation stones and dedicating to the nation various schemes, including the long-awaited metro rail project for Patna, estimated to cost Rs 33,000 crore. Without mentioning Pakistan, Mr Modi gave words to the public anger over the terror strike by Pakistan-supported Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and paid tribute to two CRPF jawans from Bihar who were martyred in Pulwama. I salute and pay my tributes to Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur, the Prime Minister said, referring to the states two martyred CRPF personnel from Patna and Bhagalpur. Mortal remains of Sinha and Thakur were cremated in full state honours in their villages on Saturday. Mr Modi, who began his speech with a few lines in the local Angika dilect, said the NDAs strategy of development was two-pronged one was development of infrastructure and the other upliftment of deprived sections of society. He also mentioned the 10 per cent reservation given by the government to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of the upper caste. Chief minister Nitish Kumar who was present during the event also paid his tribute to the martyred CRPF jawans and said that the prevailing mood in the country is to avenge the Pulwama terror attack. He urged the Prime Minister to take stern action against those who have been involved in the cowardice act in which CRPF jawans were martyred. It was nothing but a cowardice act and we will soon teach them a lesson. An all-party meeting has already been convened and Prime Minister has also clarified that there wont be any talks this time but stern action will be taken to avenge the attack, Mr Kumar said. Later, Mr Modi visited Jharkhand and laid the foundation stone of 500-bedded hospitals in Hazaribag, Dumka, Jamshedpur and Palamu. He also launched the Kanha Dugdha Yojana (milk scheme). The Prime Minister paid tribute to Vijay Soreng, a CRPF jawan from the state who was killed in Pulwama, and said that the Centre would look after the families of all martyrs. The impact of the blast was so strong that the bodies were blown to smith-ereens and flung many feet away from the site of blast. 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. New Delhi: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Sunday cautioned people against fake pictures being circulated online of body parts of its 40 soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack, the deadliest terrorist strike on security forces in Kashmir Valley in three decades. It has been noticed that on social media some miscreants are trying to circulate fake pictures of body parts of our martyrs to invoke hatred while we stand united. Please DO NOT circulate/share/like such photographs or posts," the force said on its official Twitter handle @crpfindia. It asked people to report any such content by sending an email to webpr-o@crpf.Gov.In. Sources said a number of such photographs of badly mutilated bodies were being circulated and the development was brought to the notice of force officials after which the advisory was issued. The paramilitary force, which has deployed about 65,000 personnel as part of 61 battalions in Jammu and Kashmir, issued another advisory on bogus messages being circulated on social media vis-a-vis Kashmiri students based in various places in the country. Fake news about harassment of students from Kashmir is being propagated by various miscreants on social media. The CRPF helpline has enquired about complaints about harassment and found them incorrect. These are attempts to invoke hatred. Please DO NOT circulate such posts, it said in its second post on Twitter. Investigators suspect the attack was executed by a lone wolf Jaish-e-Moha-mmed terrorist by blowing up a 20-kg-strong RDX mix explosive, laden in a car, next to a troop-carrier bus plying as part of a convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. The impact of the blast was so strong that the bodies were blown to smith-ereens and flung many feet away from the site of blast. Meanwhile, movement of paramilitary convoys by road for logistical and operational reasons will continue in J&K as it is /;necessary", the Home Ministry said ON Sunday, even though it has increased air support to carry troops to the state. In the wake of reports suggesting that the central government has rejected a proposal to ferry personnel of paramilitary forces from the Jammu-Srinagar sector by chopper, the ministry said it has significantly enhanced air courier services in all sectors to cut travel time of troops. "Movement of convoys by road for logistical and operational reasons has been and will continue to be necessary. This is also the case with the army," the Home Ministry said. "Fact of the matter is, over the last few years, the MHA has significantly enhanced air courier services for CAPFs in all sectors to help jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and back from home on leave," it said. We never attack any country but unfortunately, our neighbour (Pakistan) is aiding and funding terrorism and creating havoc, said Naidu. Prayagraj: Days after the Pulwama attack, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said that the United Nations (UN) must conclude the discussions on providing comprehensive security to prevent terror strikes across the globe. "India always wants peace and harmony. We never attack any country but unfortunately, our neighbour (Pakistan) is aiding and funding terrorism and creating havoc. Terror is not good for the world. We all should come together. The UN must conclude the discussions on providing comprehensive security to prevent terror strikes across the globe," Naidu said. "We will tackle our own problems and we don't want anyone to interfere in our internal affairs," said the Vice President. He was in Prayagraj on Saturday to attend the Kiva Kumbh Mela organised by Parmarth Niketan at the Mela ground in Prayagraj Kumbh. The Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) was proposed by India in 1996. The CCIT provides a legal framework which makes it binding on all signatories to deny funds and safe havens to terrorist groups. The original draft that was tabled in 1996 and discussions on it were held till April 2013. In 2017, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had called on the international community to reach an agreement on the CCIT to root out the menace across the globe. Addressing the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2017, Swaraj had said that India proposed the CCIT two decades back, but till now the United Nations has not been able to agree on a definition of terrorism. Forty CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 in Awantipora area of Pulwama district in Kashmir in an attack orchestrated by banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). A day after the attack, the Centre had announced the withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status unilaterally granted to Pakistan. As many as 48 countries have extended support to India, condemning the dastardly act. 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 on Thursday. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met her Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zaharieva on Saturday. Swaraj is on a two-day official visit to Bulgaria, the first ever trip of an Indian external affairs minister to the Balkan nation. (Photo:Twitter) Sofia: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met her Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zaharieva on Saturday and the two leaders discussed a range of bilateral issues including those related to economy, agriculture and health. Swaraj is on a two-day official visit to Bulgaria, the first ever trip of an Indian external affairs minister to the Balkan nation. "Straight to work! Foreign Minister of #Bulgaria @EZaharievaMFA welcomed EAM @SushmaSwaraj ahead of the delegation level talks in #Sofia. Two countries are natural partners based on the foundation of deep historical and cultural linkages dating back to 8th century," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. Preparing ground for expanding relationship EAM @SushmaSwaraj held constructive meeting with Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister of #Bulgaria @EZaharievaMFA. Discussed a range of bilateral themes in economy, agriculture, health & pharma, IT, S &T, tourism & culture. pic.twitter.com/ev6farNFam Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) February 16, 2019 "Preparing ground for expanding relationship. EAM @SushmaSwaraj held constructive meeting with Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister of #Bulgaria @EZaharievaMFA. Discussed a range of bilateral themes in economy, agriculture, health & pharma, IT, S &T, tourism & culture," he said in another tweet. Swaraj's visit is a follow-up to the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Bulgaria in September last year. She will interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit. The external affairs minister will visit Morocco from February 17-18. She will be in Spain from February 18-19. No mention of Pak in resolution on terror; Rajnath Singh meets RAW chief The meeting was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Displaying rare unity, all political parties on Saturday sent out a message of solidarity with security forces and underlined Indias determination to fight terrorism at a meeting called by home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 security personnel dead. The parties, including the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress and others, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and support being given to it from across the border. Leaders suggested another meeting later of all party chiefs to chalk out the future course of action in the backdrop of the Pulwama strike by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The resolution did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism actively encouraged by forces from the neighbouring country. The home minister also reviewed the security scenario in the country in a meeting with national security adviser Ajit Doval, chiefs of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) and heads key para-military forces. India also took tough economic measures to punish Pakistan by hiking customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from across the border. Pakistans exports to India were worth `3,482.3 crore in 2017-18. Its top exports to India include fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores and finished leather. During the all-party meeting, leaders were briefed about the attack in Pulwama and the steps being taken by the government so far, an official said. In his opening remarks, Mr Singh said, The government is determined to take its fight against terrorism to the logical conclusion. The sacrifices of security personnel will not go in vain. The people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and are with us, but there are some elements supporting the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the home minister to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of presidents of all major national and regional parties, a view supported by Derek OBrien of the Trinamul Congress and D. Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI), for deciding the future course of action. The resolution adopted at the nearly two-hour meeting said, India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. It added, Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India. The meeting was also attended by Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP, among others. During the security review meeting, the home minister was briefed about the prevailing security situation, particularly in the Valley and along the border with Pakistan. Counter offensive steps launched by the security forces to hunt down active militants, particularly in South Kashmir, were also discussed. Security agencies, sources added, have been asked to remain on high alert as terror groups could now plan to strike outside the Valley in the hinterland. It was also decided to review security provided to Kashmiri separatists leaders suspected of having links with Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and terror groups. Sources said it is possible that their security might be withdrawn after an assessment by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. The home ministry also issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories to ensure proper security for Kashmiri students and other residents from the state in their areas. 'Rumours are being spread on social media that girls here are not safe. Everything is normal here,' said Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar. Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar speaking to media on Sunday. On Saturday, the police had arrested a Kashmiri student in for allegedly making insensitive and communal posts on social media in the wake of the terror attack. (Photo: ANI) Dehradun: Director General of Police Ashok Kumar on Sunday dispelled reports of Kashmiri students being attacked in Dehradun in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, and asserted that "everything is normal." Rumours are being spread on social media that girls here are not safe. Everything is normal here. We are providing full protection to everyone, he told ANI. The statement comes after media reports suggested that Kashmiri students had to lock themselves up in order to remain safe as mob violence erupted over the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama. On Saturday, the police had arrested a Kashmiri student in for allegedly making insensitive and communal posts on social media in the wake of the terror attack. The complainant alleged that the accused had attempted to provoke communal tension by making defamatory comments on Facebook and WhatsApp. In this regard, Kumar said action will be taken against those who talk or post anti-national things on social media. Uttarakhand Police has provided full protection to all the people including the students from Kashmir. Our stand is clear - if someone posts something or even talk things that are anti-national, action will be taken against them, he said. A protest was taken out in the wake of Pulwama terrorist attack by local people on Saturday where they raised anti-Pakistan slogan. It has been alleged that girls of Dolphin Institute shouted slogans in support of Pakistan from the hostel later. However, we dont have proof about it yet, he added. In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. A convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpor. India must act against Pakistan. The whole country is standing with the government and our armed forces, asserted Manish Tewari. Mumbai: Congress leader Manish Tewari has urged the Centre to take stringent action against Pakistan with regard to the Pulwama terror attack, asserting that Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for the attack, enjoys "close ties" with Prime Minister Imran Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Speaking on the sidelines of a book launch here on Saturday, Tewari said, We are continuous of the opinion that this is a ghastly attack and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which has taken responsibility of this attack, has very close ties with Imran Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Hence this makes Pakistan government responsible for this attack and whatever action the Indian government takes, we are with them. He also said that the person behind the attack was the same terrorist whom the previous NDA government had released in Kandahar in exchange of hostages in 1999 in IC 814 highjack. Why did this attack happen and what were the lapses needs to be investigated. However, the person behind this attack is Maulana Masood Azhar, the same man whom the previous NDA government has released in Kandahar. It is important to settle scores with them. The whole country is standing with the government and our armed forces, he said. A JeM terrorist rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into a CPRF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu national highway around 3.15 pm on February 14, killing as many as 40 CRPF personnel. A day after the attack, the Centre withdrew 'Most Favoured Nation' status granted to Pakistan and called for "international isolation" of the neighbouring country. Over 48 countries have come out in support of India and condemned the dastardly terror attack. All of us can feel the pain of families of the Pulwama martyrs. We understand your anger, Modi said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays tribute to the martyred CRPF jawans who lost their lives in Thursdays Pulwama terror attack after their mortal remains were brought to Air Force Station Palam in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI) Yavatmal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror strike that claimed the lives of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, and urged people to have patience and faith in the security forces who have been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators of the attack. At a public function in Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district, where he launched a number of projects, Mr Modi said Pakistan has become a synonym for terrorism. A nation which came into existence after Partition and encourages terror activities, and which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has now become the second name for terror, Mr Modi said. Asserting the country was in deep pain over what had happened in Pulwama, the Prime Minister said, The sacrifice of the CRPF personnel martyred in Pulwama will not go in vain. Perpetrators of the crime will be punished. Security forces have been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators of the crime. I appeal to the country to have patience and faith in the security forces. Our forces will decide the place, time and manner in which the perpetrators of this crime will be punished, he said. At the event, the prime minister also dwelt on his governments development works. He recalled his visit to Dabhadi in Yavatmal district Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. All of us can feel the pain of families of the Pulwama martyrs. We understand your anger, Modi said. The security forces along the international border with Myanmar have also been sensitised about this. About the fate of the insurgent groups holed up in Myanmar, the sources said the cadres of Assam and Manipur rebel groups have started returning towards the Indian border and may try to cross over to India. (Photo: PTI) Guwahati: The Myanmar Army and government have outright rejected the plea of Indian insurgent groups of Assam and Manipur for shelter in Myanmar, and asked them to leave the country forthwith. Saying that Indian insurgent groups had pleaded with the Myanmar Army to provide them shelter in few designated camps in Sagaing division, authoritative security sources in the Union home ministry told this newspaper that the plea was not only rejected, but the Myanmar Army had also taken over control of Taga village, setting up its headquarters near the camp of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K). Saying the Myanmar Army had also seized a large number of weapons from non-Myanmary militants, the sources said the Myanmar Army has started scanning all non-Myanmar residents in the NSCN-K camps. Saying the non-Myanmar cadres of all armed rebel groups had been asked to leave the country, the sources said the Myanmar army had warned the NSCN-K of dire consequences if found giving shelter to any foreign nationals or intruder in their camps. Noting that the Myanmar Army was monitoring the movement of cadres in the NSCN-K camp at Taga, the sources said the NSCN-K was also clearly told to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). It is significant that the NSCN(K) had signed a ceasefire agreement with U Thein Seins government on April 9, 2012, but it had failed to take off as yet. The NSCN-K has been seeking a tripartite dialogue involving Myanmar, India and the Nagas, but the Myanmar government had ruled out the possibility while warning the Naga rebels of Myanmarese origin to join the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. Indicating that the survival of Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar had become very difficult with Myanmar taking a firm stand against the intruders, the sources said the Myanmar Army had also destroyed a large number of camps in Taga region. Admitting that the Myanmar Army had started taking over control of the unadministered area of northwest Myanmar, the sources said the Army was also going to strengthen its presence on the international border with India. About the fate of the insurgent groups holed up in Myanmar, the sources said the cadres of Assam and Manipur rebel groups have started returning towards the Indian border and may try to cross over to India. The security forces along the international border with Myanmar have also been sensitised about this. While the exact number of militants now in Myanmar is yet to be ascertained, security agencies believe at least 2,000 cadres of active militant groups are still in that country, including around 150 members of the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) and 100 of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (S). The Prime Minister is also scheduled to interact with the youth in the TownHall event next month. The programme will add to the nearly two dozen initatives, most of which already launched by the partys youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha(BJYM), under its Vijay Lakshya 2019 campaign. New Delhi: Targetting one of the strongest support base of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the youth and to reach out to them, including the nearly 15 crore first-time voters, ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is all set to launch NaMo Yuva Connect, a candid talk show with the youth icons, inspired from the popular Koffee with Karan programme. The programme will add to the nearly two dozen initatives, most of which already launched by the partys youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha(BJYM), under its Vijay Lakshya 2019 campaign. On various occasions, Mr Modi had himself hailed the countrys youth power and urged them to participate in the nation building. Many initiatives targetting the youth had been launched by the central government. The Prime Minister is also scheduled to interact with the youth in the TownHall event next month. The event NaMo Yuva Connect will see a youth interviewee taking up questions on various aspects of their life, their struggle in achieving the goal and in particular how they benefited from the Modi governments initiatives. The youth icons will be from various fields like sports, start-ups, medical and legal fraternity, politics including other sectors. The event, which will be held at various historical locations, would be broadcast on the social media, through BJYM and its office bearers twitter handles and other social media sites. The party is already running a #ModiOnceMore social media campaign. Ahead of the coming general elections, the BJYM has lined up nearly two dozen nationwide initiatives, some of whi-ch have already been lau-nched including, Namo-Yuva volunteer network, Nation with NaMo writers conclave, Kamal Yu-va Mahotsav and Vijay Lashya Yuva Sammelan among others. Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik ordered strict action against those indulging in violence or rumour mongering. Protesters shout slogans against Pakistan during the second day of curfew in Jammu on Saturday. The Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities a day after violence was reported during protests against the Pulwama terror attack. (Photo: AP) Srinagar: Parts of Kashmir Valley erupted on Saturday amid brewing tensions over the incidents of arson that took place during a shutdown in Jammu a day ago and reports of harassment of Kashmiri students and traders in some parts of the country in the wake of the Pulwama recent terror attack which left 49 CRPF dead. Valley traders have called a bandh on Sunday to protest the violence in Jammu. Curfew remained in force in entire Jammu city for second consecutive day in view of Fridays violence during which irate crowds torched dozens of vehicles owned by minority Muslim community in some parts of the winter capital. Some city residents alleged on Saturday that they were attacked despite the curfew being in force. Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik ordered strict action against those indulging in violence or rumour mongering. The governor directed the police to take strict action without mercy against those indulging in any type of violence, arson or rumour mongering irrespective of political and religious affiliation, an official statement said. Jammu incidents and reports of alleged harassment of Kashmiri students and traders in some other parts of the country, including Dehradun, set off tension in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday as irate crowds took to the streets in protest in Srinagar and southern town of Anantnag. Youth also clashed with the police and Central armed forces, the witnesses said. Parts of Anantnag erupted mainly because of a rumour that a local resident has been killed in an attack in Sarwal area of Jammu. The authorities were quick to deny any such incident has taken place and warned the rumour mongers of severe action. A police spokesman said, Malicious rumour is being spread about the death in Sarwal. Rumour mongers will be dealt strictly under law. The police also denied Kashmiri drivers or their vehicles have been attacked in Udhampur. The Valleys traders bodies have called for a Kashmir bandh on Sunday in protest against the Jammu incidents and harassment of Kashmiri traders and students elsewhere in the country. On Saturday afternoon, the traders of Srinagars commercial hub Lal Chowk and its neighbourhood brought their shutters down in protest against the attacks on Kashmiris in Jammu and outside the state. Tensions heightened after reports that Kashmiri students in Dehradun have been forced to vacate their rented accommodations in the wake of the Pulwama attack. Reacting to these reports, the J&K police officials said that they have spoken to their counterparts in Uttarakhand who assured us that they are in touch with the representative of Kashmiri boys and all necessary arrangements for the safety and security of students in Dehradun have been put in place. Jammus deputy commissioner Ramesh Kumar said that the situation remained peaceful throughout the City on Saturday. He said officers of civil administration and law enforcing agencies will review the situation and decide whether to relax the curfew on Sunday. Residents of Janipur housing colony of Jammu said that their properties were attacked thrice by unruly mobs on Saturday even as the city was under curfew. They alleged that the police and other law enforcing authorities were not acting tough on the miscreants. In the wake of Fridays incidents and alleged attacks and harassment of Kashmiris in Jammu, the state government employees stationed in the winter capital in connection with the Darbar move or biannual office shift have threatened to return to the Valley en-mass if the authorities do not take measures to ensure their safety. Owais A. Wani, the state president of The Darbar Move (non-secretariat) Employees Federation, alleged that the Kashmiri employees are not safe in Jammu as the residential quarters allotted to them by the states estates department at Janipora and some other parts of the city have been attacked by miscreants. Rakesh Gupta, president of Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry which had given the call for shutdown, condemned the violence on Friday but said that the situation has been brought under control fully. We had called for the shutdown to show solidarity with the CRPF and the families of its jawans who lost their lives in the terror attack. Some ugly incidents occurred during the bandh but it is not Jammu alone which has some miscreants. I assure no further harm will be allowed to come to the people, he told this newspaper. On Friday, India announced withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. On Thursday, India lost 40 CRPF jawans in the attack carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohamad, a Pakistan-based terror group. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Initiating a trade war with Pakistan in a bid to retaliate to Pulwama terror attack, India on Saturday hiked customs duty on goods imported from Pakistan to 200 per cent. On Friday, India announced withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted, "India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect. #Pulwama. India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect. #Pulwama Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 16, 2019 On Thursday, India lost 40 CRPF jawans in the attack carried out by the Jaish e-Mohamad, a Pakistan-based terror group. The MFN status is given to a trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between the two nations. India had granted the status to Pakistan in 1996. However, Islamabad did not reciprocate despite it being required to do so as a member of the World Trade Organisation. India's decision to revoke MFN's status is seen as symbolic in crippling Pakistan's economy as it is already struggling hard financially. India mainly exports cotton, dyes, chemicals, vegetables and iron and steel to Pakistan while imports fruits, cement, leather, chemicals, and spices. In the wake of the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama, global pressure is building on Pakistan to act against perpetrators of the attack. Read: Worst ever terror attack in J&K since 1989: World leaders express condolences India has urged the international community to back the naming of JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist despite China's strong and consistent attempt to block Indias bid to get JeM chief Masood Azhar declared as a designated global terrorist at the United Nations. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, is a strategic partner and is expected to pump in around Rs 1,400 crore. On February 14, Jet Airways' board approved a Bank-Led Provisional Resolution Plan (BLPRP), whereby lenders would become the largest shareholders in the airline. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Loss-making Jet Airways is likely to receive fund infusion worth over Rs 3,000 crore post debt-rejig and investments by Etihad Airways as well as National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) while founder Naresh Goyal might remain the promoter with less than half of the existing majority stake of 51 per cent, according to sources. While the final contours of debt-restructuring and consequent changes are being worked out, an analyst said that Etihad Airways should come as the main driver for Jet Airways as lenders and shareholders would not be able to bring in much value addition. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which currently owns 24 per cent in the full service carrier, is a strategic partner and is expected to pump in around Rs 1,400 crore, sources said. On February 14, Jet Airways' board approved a Bank-Led Provisional Resolution Plan (BLPRP), whereby lenders would become the largest shareholders in the airline. After receiving approval from shareholders, during their meeting scheduled for February 21, part of debt would be converted into 11.4 crore shares at a consideration of Re 1 apiece as per RBI norms. Later, appropriate interim credit facilities by domestic lenders would be sanctioned to the airline, as per a regulatory filing made on February 14. The government-backed NIIF, where Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is a key stakeholder, is likely to acquire little over 19 per cent stake in the ailing airline, they added. They said that NIIF is likely to put in Rs 1,400 crore while lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), are expected to convert debt into equity worth around Rs 600 crore. Sources also said that Etihad's proposed investments would hike its stake only marginally and that would not trigger the requirement for making an open offer for shareholders of Jet Airways under Sebi regulations. Together, the fresh funding for the airline would amount to about Rs 3,400 crore and Goyal's stake could reduce to 20 per cent from 51 per cent at present, sources said. Queries sent to Etihad Airways and NIIF on their proposed investments in Jet Airways remained unanswered. Query sent to Jet Airways about Goyal's stake coming down to around 20 per cent after debt-rejig did not elicit any immediate response. In the three months ended December 2018, Jet Airways reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 732 crore. Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said Etihad should come as the main driver of the company and they have to nominate their main people to run the airline because lenders and shareholders are not going to bring in much value addition. Noting that it is an irretrievable situation under the current promoters, Jasani told PTI that who would be the operational owner of the airline would be the most crucial part. "Somebody who has expertise and equity stake has to come. Only then this can be revived. Otherwise we are postponing the problem by a couple of years... If you are not changing the management, then we are going to stay where we are. Same problem will come again," he said. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the restructuring exercise is likely to steer Jet Airways away from the turbulence it has been going through for many years now. "The SBI-led consortium of bankers who will be becoming the largest shareholders after the conversion of debt into equity can manage the transition of management over to Etihad plus another partner eventually," he noted. Jasani noted that he thinks a lot of things would not be disclosed to the public in the current deal. "At the government and regulatory levels, they may have been sounded off on the final contours. We have to see whether political issues crop up, whether opposition have objection... we will have to see many factors," he added. In July, Stavropol Zheleznovodsk will host the Iron Wings of the Caucasus air show, the press service of the resort city reported. The pilots of the Aerospace Forces of Russia will show aerobatics In the sky of Zheleznovodsk. The Swifts and Russian Knights crews will perform once again, and their fans will be able to purchase souvenirs with the logos of the aerobatics teams, AiF-Stavropol reports. An unknown man or a group of persons tried to commit robbery in the building of administration of Armavir, a town in Armenia, News.am reports. The 60-year-old villager informed police that the lock was damaged in one of the rooms of the administration building, however, the criminals could not bring the robbery to the end. The villager is working in the administration as a custodian. The former Georgian president and former governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, said that there is not a drop of non-Georgian blood in him. I dont have a drop of non-Georgian blood in me. Once, I got curious, and I passed a very popular genetic test in America, he wrote on his Facebook page. I turned out to be almost 99% Georgian, he said, adding that one percent of Greek blood also flows in his veins. The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces have purchased Russias Kornet-EM anti-tank missile systems and Pantsir surface-to-air missile systems, UAE Brigadier General Mohammed Hassaini told TASS on Sunday. "The contract on Kornet-EM is to the tune of 146.92 mln dirham ($39.7 mln) and on Pantsir - more than 45 mln dirham ($12.1 mln)," he said speaking about the outcome of the first day of the IDEX-2019 international defense exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The general gave no other details of the deal, TASS reports. Nacogdoches, TX (75965) Today Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 92F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low near 75F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate in the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing at the turn of April 2019, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, TASS reported. "We are looking forward to the second Road and Belt Forum, where President Putin will participate," Lavrov said at the meeting with Yang Jiechi, head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of China's Communist Party. "In our turn, we expect successful participation of Chinas President Xi Jinping during his visit to Russia and in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as the main guest," Lavrov added. Moscow shares "satisfaction of Beijing with the state of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership and comprehensive interaction," the Minister said. Pace Georgia company plans to build another deepwater port in Poti. Today, the company operates 8th terminals of the Poti port. The project was supported by the American Investment Agency (OPIC), which allocated $ 50 million for the project. According to the director of the company, Klaus Holm, the new deep-water port will meet all international standards. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said he would discuss the issues of strengthening cooperation between the UAE and Chechnya in Abu Dhabi. The issues of further strengthening the traditionally friendly relations between the UAE and the Chechen Republic, which are important for mutually beneficial relations between the UAE and Russia, will be discussed with the senior officials of the country," the leader of the Republic said, noting that he had arrived in the UAE at the invitation of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Japanese and Russian foreign ministers have agreed on that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay a visit to Tokyo soon, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, TASS reports. "We have agreed on to organize the upcoming visit of [Sergey Lavrov] to Japan," Kono said, according to the Kyodonews agency, stressing that the problem of signing a peace treaty cannot be solved overnight. "This is a problem, a solution to which has not been found for more than 70 years. But I would like to make joint efforts [with Russia] in order to achieve this goal," the Japanese foreign minister said. After talks with his Japanese counterpart, Lavrov told reporters that Russian and Japanese Deputy Foreign Ministers Igor Morgulov and Takeo Mori would hold consultations on a peace treaty in the coming weeks, and a round of strategic dialogue at the level of first deputies is scheduled for April 2. "We agreed [with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono] on our further work. We have deputies, who are in charge of this effort between the meetings of foreign ministers, at the instruction of the Russian president and the Japanese prime minister," he said. "The deputies will hold this contact in the coming weeks, and then we will decide on a new meeting of the ministers, this time on the Japanese territory." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed an interim foreign minister after holding the post himself for the last four years, Aljazeera reports. Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Transport Minister Israel Katz would serve as Israel's top diplomat until the formation of a new government after the country's upcoming April elections. Katz said the move marked an "exciting moment", adding he would "continue to promote and lead Israel's foreign policy to further achievements, alongside the prime minister". The risk of a war with Israel is very high, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the Munich Security Conference. "Certainly, some people are looking for war as Israel," the head of the Iranian foreign ministry said, noting that the threat of military action will only grow if the world community turns a blind eye to the serious violations of the international law. Russia is in favor of observing the nuclear deal on Iran and regrets the negative development of this issue due to the unilateral decision of the United States to withdraw from the JCPOA, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Vershinin said today on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The principled position of Russia on the Syrian Idlib is that all terrorists on the territory of the city "must be eliminated, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said. The diplomat noted that currently the terrorist forces are concentrated in northwestern Syria. Our principled position - no compromises with terrorists; they must be eliminated, the deputy head of the Russian foreign affairs agency stressed. Four people are confirmed to have been killed in a domestic hostage situation in the southern US state of Mississippi on 16 February, Sputnik reported citing the WLBT broadcaster. The WLBT broadcaster reported late on 16 February that the incident started in the city of Clinton at about 2:30-3:00 a.m. local time (08:30-09:00 GMT) and lasted for approximately 12 hours. According to the broadcaster, shots were fired at the scene. A SWAT team and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were deployed to the scene, along with the local police, the broadcaster said, adding that minors had been released from the house several hours before the rescue operation was completed. The broadcaster did not specify who was among the four victims, but noted that no law enforcement officers had been injured during the hours-long standoff. Police also said that the suspect had been detained, the broadcaster added. Actor Gerard Depardieu and director Emir Kusturica plan to visit the Yalta International Economic Forum (YIEF), the co-chairman of the public organization Business Russia and the organizing committee of the YIEF. Andrei Nazarov, said. It is clarified that Depardieu and Kusturica will visit the forum site, where gastronomic tourism will be discussed. An exhibition of the Turkmen handmade carpets, national jewelry and textiles opened at the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. Director of the Turkmen National Museum of Carpets, Maya Ashirova, who presented more than three hundred items for the exhibition, told Vestnik Kavkaza about the carpet weaving traditions and affinity between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. - The carpet has been considered a symbol of Turkmen people for centuries. What importance do Turkmen people attach to carpets today? - People in our country say that horses are the wings of Turkmens, and carpets are their soul. Today, the carpet weaving is maintained at the state level. Our president wrote two books - "The Beauty of Heaven" and "Living Legend". The first describes the beauty of the Turkmen carpet associated with spiritual perception as the grace of the world is reflected in a carpet. The second book is a textbook for young people, telling about the attitude to our heritage, our past and culture. The point is that the world is huge, but without knowing your culture you cannot comprehend it. - Is the textbook included in the school curriculum? - We have classes in schools where there are studies of practical carpet weaving. Girls can do carpet weaving one hour a week starting from the fourth grade. - How many schools of the Turkmen carpet are there? - There are about 70 types of carpets - carpets that are used in everyday life, festive, ritual. Nobody counted ornaments. There is a large group of Akhal-Teke carpets, there are smaller groups as well. - What are the distinctive features of the Turkmen carpet? -The distinctive features of the Turkmen carpets - geometric patterns, lines, proportions. Our carpets consist of 50% of the background and 50% of the ornament. This is always maintained. When people look at our carpet, they think that it has more background. But it is not true. We just have very laconic carpets. When the same colors are used both in the background and in the ornament, it seems that the background is larger. Compliance with the proportions is also required. This is a part of the craft and culture. In addition, the unique giant woolen carpets are made in Turkmenistan, with more than a million knots per square meter. We brought one of the samples to Baku. Today our task is to popularize the hand-made carpet weaving. - What is the oldest carpet in your museum? - 17th-century carpet, most likely. We didnt test it using the radiocarbon method, but based on the knowledge of what was woven in the 17th century, we came to the conclusion that it was made in the 17th century. - What can you say about the Azerbaijani carpets? - They are very similar to ours, the kinship is felt. - How did the idea of the Azerbaijani-Turkmen carpet exhibition appear? - Ilham Aliyev came to Ashgabat, saw our museum, and then the idea was born. Now, we hope that the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum will bring its exposition to Ashgabat. We want to thank the people and the government of Azerbaijan for the warm welcome and assistance in organizing this exhibition. We really enjoyed our time here. We hope that this relationship will strengthen and develop. - Did you get acquainted with the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum? - We liked the workshops at the carpet museum, the way things are organized. Now we are thinking of expanding our restoration workshops by using the Azerbaijani experience. All topics concerning the contents and the use of the textbook: R.E. Bryant & D.R. O'Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective South Africa: Basic Education dismisses claims by Doctors Without Borders The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has dismissed claims by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) that the roll-out of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for secondary school learners in South Africa is on hold. The allegation that the roll-out of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for secondary school learners in South Africa is on hold is false, and inaccurate, the department said in a statement. The department has also noted with concern and disappointment, the misleading statements from Doctors Without Borders in which they allege that the policy on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases is not being implemented. The department has made a commitment to provide learners with comprehensive sexual education and direct health services at schools and the work is continuing as we speak. The DBE National Policy on HIV, STIs and TB for Learners, Educators, Schools Support Staff and Officials in the Basic Education Sector is now at School Advocacy and Implementation Level, the department said. Between 14 February 2018 and 30 August 2018, policy advocacy workshops were conducted in all nine provinces. The workshops were attended by officials from Provincial and District Education, Health and Social Development Departments, Provincial Aids Councils and partners implementing SRH programmes. Provincial advocacy implementation plans were developed during the meetings and provinces are at different stages of the implementation plans. The department has further developed Sexuality Education Scripted Lesson Plans (SLPs) on Sexuality Education in the Life Orientation Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). SLPs for Grades 7 9 were finalised and approved in 2017 and these were piloted in FS, GP, KZN, MPU, and WC provinces. The department has finalised reviewing the draft SLPs for Gr 4 6 and 10 12 which were piloted in the same provinces. Since 2012, the department has been offering health services to learners through the Integrated School Health Programme (ISHP) including education on Sexual Reproductive Health Services and referral to health facilities for the service. Since the new policy makes provision for SRH services, the department has since updated the package of Health services in the ISHP to include, the provision of SRH services in the school package including making condoms available and HIV Counselling and Testing, the department said. Noting that parents and schools were complaining about learners being tested without their consent and possible disturbance of teaching and learning due to lack of coordinated service provision in schools, some provinces resolved to suspend SRH services in schools. In this regard, the ISHP task team with the assistance of the USAID, developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for health services in schools to guide the testing of learners and teachers including school access and parental consent. Consultations on the SOPs were conducted in 2018 and the final draft will be released in a weeks time once all internal processes have been finalised. It is therefore disingenuous for MSF to make allegations that suggest that the department is not fulfilling its commitment on this matter. MSF representatives are fully aware of the work being done as they have been consulted as well. The guidelines they mention are actually being finalized for release next week. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-02-17. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The Armenian parliament has adopted a five-year plan that the government proposed to fix Armenias economy, the countrys most pressing problem. But the plan was subject to broad criticism and passed without support of the two opposition parties in parliament, Eurasianet reports. The economic revolution has begun, said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, presenting the program in parliament on February 12. I am announcing the start of the nationwide economic revolution in the Republic of Armenia. The Armenian people won in the fight against corruption, impunity and clan management, and the Armenian people will win in the fight against poverty and unemployment. The 62-page government plan promises a significant decrease of the severe poverty in Armenia and a significant decrease in unemployment by 2023. Very small businesses would be exempt from taxes; public sector salaries would be increased. The plan gave a few specific targets: that GDP would increase by five percent a year, exports would be increased to over 40 percent of GDP by 2024, and solar energy would make up 10 percent of the countrys total consumption by 2022. Many, though, criticized the plan for being generous with words but stingy with details. For me, this [the plan] is a conversation between the prime minister and the citizens, or the prime ministers message to the government, but not a measurable program to which the government can be held accountable, said Mane Tandilyan, an MP from Bright Armenia, during a February 14 parliament session. Others criticized the plan for being insufficiently ambitious. This plan is not revolutionary, Gagik Tsarukyan, the head of the Prosperous Armenia party, told journalists. If it doesnt change, we cant vote for it. He allowed, though, that: I dont deny that there are two or three provisions which will create positive changes in peoples lives. MPs from the ruling My Step alliance defended the lack of specificity and modesty. Babken Tunyan, chairman of the parliaments Economic Affairs Committee, said that the government could have picked a higher target than five percent GDP growth. "On the other hand, it is better to target less, but to achieve more, he said. And Pashinyan said the numbers will depend on the Armenian people themselves. The numerical parameters of the economic revolution actually depend on how many Armenian citizens will respond to our call to become an activist of the economic revolution and how many will decide to take advantage of the opportunities of the same revolutionary platform, he said while presenting the program in parliament. Pashinyans emphasis on peoples responsibility for fixing the economy, including a statement that poverty is in peoples minds, raised some hackles. Edmon Marukyan, the head of Bright Armenia said that was a means of dodging responsibility. In the 90s, when I was a child, the only one responsible for our poverty was [the countrys first post-Soviet president] Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Marukyan saidduring a February 14 session debating the plan. Then, when we lived in poverty again, it was [second president] Robert Kocharyan. In 2018, of course, it was Serzh Sargsyan. And now a revolution occurs, and the leader declares that poverty is in peoples minds. Remove it from your minds and the economy will grow. Great, but then its not clear why the three previous leaders were responsible for our poverty, if the fourth one isnt. On February 14, the plan was adopted with an 82-37 vote. While it wasnt disclosed how individual MPs voted, the numbers suggest that all or nearly all My Step MPs voted for the plan, while the opposition parties didnt. Common sense overcame emotions. Systematic work of Azerbaijani and Chechen authorities, in particular Azerbaijani embassy, helped to resolve the conflict. On February 14, a mass brawl with shooting involving Chechens and Azerbaijanis occured in Neolith restaurant in Moscow. Police arrived to the scene of this accident and detained 18 people. Situation was fueled by the media, which reported that leadership of Azerbaijan and Chechnya have distanced themselves from this incident. Meanwhile, immediately after clarification of the details of this incident, both Baku and Grozny made statements regarding this situation. "Leadership of the Chechen Republic is aware of this incident, our representatives learned all the details and are looking for instigators," Dzhambulat Umarov, national policy, external relations, press and information minister of the Chechen Republic, said. Baku viewed this case as domestic criminal incident, which can't harm friendly and fraternal ties that historically exist between the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples, Azerbaijani presidential aide Ali Hasanov said. In addition, deputy of the Azerbaijani parliament, Elman Nasirov, assured that targeted efforts of certain forces to politicize incident that occurred for domestic reasons are unacceptable: "Azerbaijanis and Chechens have been friendly neighbors for centuries. We're connected by religion, we have close culture. We have lived side by side for centuries, there have always been friendly ties between us." Point in the conflict was set by the meeting in Moscow of Azerbaijani and Chechen aksakals, representatives of the intelligentsia, authoritative people of both communities, which ended late on February 15. It became clear that the provocateurs tried to make criminal incident look like huge interethnic conflict. Fortunately, people on both sides responded to this situation on time and in a proper manner, so they were able to prevent any conflict. According to media reports, participants of the expanded meeting of influential representatives of Azerbaijani and Chechen communities discussed this case and stated that it won't hurt friendship between Azerbaijanis and Chechens, so this conflict was settled and there are no tensions anymore. Both Baku and Grozny praised coordinated work of structures that didn't allow provocateurs to succeed in disrupting stability of multinational and multi-religious Russian society. Today it already became obvious that Azerbaijanis and Chechens simply succumbed to emotions during the incident. Now common sense overcame emotions. This case proved once again that all residents of Russia, regardless of nationality or religion, must abide by the law and remember that we live in a multinational country, our children, our sisters, our parents live here. We must always respect each other. Having been classified as a major threat to security due to its refusal to crack down on terrorism financing and a continued lack of enthusiasm for halting massive money laundering schemes, the European Commission added Saudi Arabia to its list of nations who are considered serial offenders when it comes to financial crimes. As New Europe reports, EU lenders will now be required to carry out more robust checks on payments involving entities from the Kingdom. The announcement came as part of a broader crackdown by the EU on countries that are considered the worst money laundering offenders. Included, along with Saudi Arabia, on the blacklist are 23 other countries and territories Panama, Nigeria, Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, and Yemen. In addition to their weak approach towards cracking down on money laundering and terrorism financing, the blacklist includes entities who have either refused to coordinate or have insufficient cooperation with the EU on all matters of transparency about the beneficial owners of companies and trusts. The 28 EU members now have one month to endorse the new list. The UK has objected to Saudi Arabia being added to the list as it argues that the Commission has confuses businesses because it diverges from a smaller listing of only 12 entities compiled by its Financial Action Task Force. Saudi Arabia is a major market for the UKs largest lenders, including the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, who are considered market leaders. Saudi Arabias 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 Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said in a statement on February 14. EU Commissioner Vera Jourova, who proposed the list, said the Commission is closely monitoring a number of other jurisdictions, including Russia, the City of London, and Azerbaijan. Mandarin Oriental today marked its regional debut in the Middle East with the opening of a new hotel in Dubai, UAE. Developed by wasl Asset Management Group, one of the largest real estate development and management companies in Dubai, the Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai is set to bring a new wave of chic design and luxury experiences to the shores of the city. Designed by acclaimed international designer Jeffrey Wilkes, the property features 256 spacious and elegant guest rooms and suites, most with private balconies and terraces, offering pristine ocean views or the dynamic city skyline. Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai has six unrivalled restaurants and bars, all of which are noteworthy additions to Dubais dining scene. The two signature restaurants are Tasca by Portuguese celebrity chef Jose Avillez and Netsu, a Warayaki-style Japanese steakhouse by Australian-born chef Ross Shonhan. As the closest beachfront resort to Dubais financial and business districts, the hotel boasts exceptional meeting and event facilities, providing a wonderful setting for weddings and social celebrations. A 700-sq-m glass-walled ballroom features a beachfront terrace and is complemented by four elegantly appointed meeting spaces and an expansive private Bridal Room. The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai takes wellness experiences to another level, with its focus on locally-inspired experiences. All nine treatment rooms feature individual changing and bathroom facilities, and some have private terraces overlooking the ocean. This welcoming oasis offers exceptional heat and water experiences, and an unrivalled range of holistic rejuvenation and relaxation treatments. There is also a state-of-the-art fitness centre and a Little Nomads kids club with a range of fun activities for younger Mandarin fans. We are delighted to introduce Mandarin Orientals renowned hospitality to the Middle East and look forward to welcoming guests to the luxurious resort environs of Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai, said general manager, Werner Anzinger. Hesham Al Qassim, CEO of wasl Asset Management Group, commented: Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai will not only be an exceptional addition to our robust portfolio but will also represent an exciting and premium addition to Dubais hospitality scene that will support sustainable growth in tourism in one of the most sought-after locations in the emirate. To celebrate the opening, Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai is offering an enticing New Wave of Luxury package, which includes a daily credit of up to Dh1,100 ($299.4) that can be spent throughout the resort. - TradeArabia News Service Chesney Berzins has many reasons to be thankful. For one, she is the reigning Mrs. Texas and will head to Las Vegas this August to compete in the Mrs. America pageant. The pageant contestant is also married to the love her life, Phillip - her middle school sweetheart. The biggest thing shes thankful for, she said, is having survived cancer. But none of that would have been possible if Berzins and her family hadnt discovered they were afflicted with a rare genetic mutation that can cause gastric cancer in 50 percent of those who inherit it. Berzins and three of her five siblings had a genetic mutation called CDH1. In late 2015, Berzins oncologist told her that she did in fact have the rare hereditary diffuse gastric cancer, which is the third most common cause of cancer deaths globally, according to No Stomach for Cancer. One in 111 men and women will diagnosed in their lifetime. By Jan. 14, 2016, I had my stomach removed and I found out later that I had over 11 tumors in my stomach, she said, recalling the harrowing and life-altering experience. There was quite a bit of cancer in there. After her gastrectomy, Berzins lost more than 50 pounds and said she was pretty close to death before her now husband helped her get her life back on track pursuing a healthy lifestyle. Two years later, Berzins was crowned Mrs. Texas. Now Berzins is using her voice to educate others about the genetic mutation. Shes taking her story with her on the national stage when she competes for the coveted Mrs. America title in August to spread awareness about the rare gastric cancer she and her family survived. RELATED: Katy ISD police officer takes United States Mrs Texas 2019 crown Her two brothers and sister -John, Paul and Katie - also had their stomachs prophylactically removed and doctors found cancer in each of their stomachs, she said. It saved all of our lives, because had we not had our stomachs removed, we all would have had very early deaths, she said. By the time that gastric cancer gets to a certain stage -three or four -theres only about a four percent survival rate, she added. Its very, very deadly and its doesnt respond to chemo or radiation because of the way it grows. Were all very fortunate. Shes also spreading awareness about her new projects called, Were All Mammals, which s universal acceptance project for the differently-abled. She got the idea for the name of project from her nieces, Eve and Felicity. MORNING UPDATES: Get your trending Houston headlines delivered to you. In the special needs community, there is such a great stigma that people think that people with special needs or who are differently-abled are less and theyre not, Berzins said. One thing she wants everyone to know and understand is that no matter anyones disability, you are never any less. Thats the message that I am desperate to get out to the world, and Im just really thankful about this, my journey, she said. Its definitely been challenging but its also been so rewarding and Im thankful for it. michelle.iracheta@chron.com Stay up to date on COVID-19 Get Breaking News Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. Sunna Design, a leader in solar energy management for autonomous and connected applications, has partnered with Masdar City, in Abu Dhabi, for a 12-month pilot scheme to undergo weather endurance monitoring. This announcement come following their win last year, at the Zayed Sustainability Prizes 10th annual awards ceremony (formerly Zayed Future Energy Prize). Based in France, Sunna Design in the last week of January, had installed eight solar streetlights near Masdar Citys Eco-Villa development. The monitoring period is intended to further demonstrate confidence in their long-term performance and durability, said the company in a statement. The WiFi connectivity within each streetlight will enable the data and performance of each unit to be monitored remotely, from the companys head office in Blanchefort, France. The model was a key factor in the company receiving the 2018 Prize and, after the conclusion of this pilot project, the aim will be to have further demonstrated the effectiveness and longevity of this solar-powered lighting solution to more countries and regions that endure extreme heat, it stated. Commenting on the project, Chairman and Founder Thomas Samuel, said: "Sunna Design is extremely proud to partner with Masdar City for this pilot project, showcasing our best-in-class solar street lights in the GCCs leading, purpose-built, low carbon community." "The iSSL Maxi 4 is our best-selling road lighting product and with our latest battery and electronics patented technology is designed to operate for 10 years without technical maintenance," he stated. "The 12-month pilot project is part of Sunna Designs commitment to ongoing research and development and a desire to always be improving our technologies and products for our customers," he noted. Sunna pointed out that it had implemented several projects with private sector and government stakeholders, across the GCC, and that momentum had only accelerated after winning the Prize, in 2018. In turn, Dr Lamya Fawwaz, the director of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, said: "As a previous winner of the Prize, we are delighted to be supporting Sunna Design and its partnership with Abu Dhabis flagship low-carbon community, Masdar City, as they conduct tests on one of its novel solar-powered streetlights." "The partnership reflects the commitment these organisations, and the Prize, share for expanding clean energy access," noted Dr Fawwaz. Yousef Baselaib, the executive director of Masdar City, said: "Around a third of Masdar Citys electricity needs are provided by solar power and, from a smart city perspective, we recognise that data collection enables a greater understanding of how best to integrate renewable energy solutions into infrastructure and community developments." Following the evolution of the Zayed Future Energy Prize into the Zayed Sustainability Prize, in 2018, the recent annual awards ceremony, in January, now includes categories in Health, Food, Energy, Water, and Global High Schools, stated Dr Fawwaz. This broadening recognition of sustainability solutions, alongside energy, demonstrates the Prizes now closer alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as supporting the UAEs governments National Agenda 2021. Submissions for the 2020 Zayed Sustainability Prize are now open and will run from January 30 to May 30.-TradeArabia News Service John Cox can be reached at 661-395-7404. Follow him on Twitter: @TheThirdGraf. Sign up at Bakersfield.com to receive free newsletters about local business. In one month, Parker Chamberlin will learn whether he will be set free after serving 18 years in custody for the grisly murder of his mother. Contact The Californian's Robert Price at 661-395-7399, rprice@bakersfield.com or on Twitter: @stubblebuzz. The views expressed here are his own. Jussie Smollett arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) The event included PBS show characters such as Curious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog. Euro Motors has announced a special extended warranty offer to all the customers of Jaguars and Land Rovers, thereby ensuring the utmost satisfaction long after the vehicle has been purchased. An exclusive dealer for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles in Bahrain, Euro Motors Jaguar Land Rover said its top priority was to keep the customers needs as the top priority. The Extended Warranty offer provides customers with generous claim limits, up to the purchase price of the car. Unveiling the offer, Stephen Lay, the general manager, said: "On behalf of Euro Motors Jaguar Land Rover, it gives me great pride to announce that our loyal customers now will be able to benefit from our highly advantageous Extended Warranty option." "With the vast array of offerings we have introduced over the years, we demonstrate our dedication to our loyalists and extend the privileges that come with being a Jaguar and Land Rover owner," he noted. The extended warranty comes into effect once the vehicle exceeds 3 years from the date of delivery and expires after 5 years from the date of delivery or at 250,000 km for Jaguar owners, except for the Jaguar E-PACE which expires at 150,000 km, whichever comes first. For Land Rover owners the extended warranty comes into effect once the vehicle exceeds three years from the date of delivery and expires after five years from the date of delivery or at 150,000 km, whichever comes first. "The Extended Warranty provides comprehensive coverage against unexpected mechanical and electrical vehicle failure; the categories covered typically include engine components, powertrain control unit, gearbox and suspension as well as catalytic convertors and electrical systems amongst others," explained Lay. "With Travel Protection also included in the Extended Warranty, customers will be able to benefit from Road Side Assistance while travelling to a number of countries in the Mena region which includes; Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and Tunisia," he added.-TradeArabia News Service By Trend The delegation of Malaysian company TXMR will visit Uzbekistan in April to discuss the creation of joint production of robotics in the country, Trend reports with reference to Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Ministry states that Uzbek Ambassador to Malaysia, Ravshan Usmanov, visited the TXMR production facilities, where he met with the executive director of the company, Tengku Farid. The sides discussed prospects for the creation of modern high-tech enterprises with the attraction of foreign investment in Uzbekistan. The plant will help to improve the efficiency and profitability of domestic production lines. The Malaysian side highly appreciated the measures taken by Uzbekistan to modernize the industrial sector, expand the range of import-substituting products and stressed its interest in establishing mutually beneficial contacts. TXMR is a leader in industrial automation and robot manufacturing, not only in Malaysia, but also in Southeast Asia. TXMR Sdn Bhd was incorporated in Malaysia on 24th September 2010 and locates in Subang Jaya, Selangor. The company focuses on total Industrial Cyber Physical System Integration Solution towards Eco Innovation & Green Technology adoption in-line with Industrial 4.0. ---- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Via social networks the Armenians call for exacerbating the incident that occurred between the Azerbaijanis and the Chechens in Moscow, Trend reports. Armenian social network users urge compatriots to fully take advantage of this situation. "So guys, of course, you are all aware of a joyful event for us, social network user Arman Abovyan said. I mean the incident between the Azerbaijanis and the Chechens in Moscow. What are our challenges? First of all, we should do everything for the conflict to further exacerbate in social networks. But we should not use the Armenian nicknames. It is necessary for no one to reproach us for exacerbating the situation. We should write offensive comments on behalf of the two sides of the confrontation. We should coordinate our actions. We will reach success in case of a new clash. But in any case, our primary task is to sow the seeds of hatred and discord. A conflict with the use of arms occurred in "Neolith" cafe in Moscow on Feb. 14. The police came to the scene of the accident and detained 18 people. Presumably, the Chechens were involved in the incident. According to the eyewitnesses, the crowd broke into the cafe in the evening. Earlier, Chief of Moscows Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry, Lieutenant-General of Police Oleg Baranov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu and representative of the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry, Major-General of Police Akbar Yusifov said that the situation is fully controlled by the city authorities and the police and all necessary measures will be taken. During the meeting, the sides stressed that the information about the death of 4-6 people disseminated on the internet is false. A request was voiced not to succumb to such provocations in social networks which pursue the sole purpose of creating an atmosphere of hostility and discord. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on February 16 Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on Feb. 16. At the meeting the Ministers discussed the cooperative relations between the two states and expressed satisfaction over the existing bilateral strategic ties. The sides exchanged views over furthering the bilateral cooperation in various fields, as well as the issues related to cooperation within international organizations. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Such events like the incident that took place in the Moscow cafe Neolit wont affect the relations between Azerbaijanis and Chechens, because both fraternal peoples have always been close and supported each other, Assistant Chairman of the Public Chamber of Russias Chechen Republic Islam Saydayev told Trend Feb. 16. Saydayev, who is also a member of the Union of Journalists of Russia and the Chechen branch of the historical enlightenment Double-Headed Eagle Society, as well as director of the Foundation for Supporting the Study and Development of Languages, History and Culture of the Peoples of the Caucasus, noted that such actions have never been natural for either Chechens or Azerbaijanis. All Chechens and Azerbaijanis, whom I know, condemn what had happened, said Saydayev. He noted that it is necessary to preserve the peace that has been established in Russia and the good attitude of both the citizens of the Russian Federation towards the Azerbaijanis and the Chechens and the good attitude among the Caucasian peoples. At the same time, noting that the incident is a provocation, Saydayev added that there are a lot of ill-wishers who would like to benefit from the next conflict. You cant be led by provocateurs, he said. Representatives of both diasporas have already assessed the events and unequivocally condemned them. I lived in Azerbaijan for a long time and I have many friends there. I also have many friends among Azerbaijanis living in Turkey. I think that such ordinary incidents wont harm the relations between Azerbaijanis and Chechens. Azerbaijanis and Chechens have always supported each other. We will continue to live in friendship and mutual understanding. On Feb. 15, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov, commenting on a brawl that took place in a cafe in the Russian capital of Moscow, involving Azerbaijanis and Chechens, said that the Azerbaijani government considered the brawl as an incident of domestic violence and believed that such incidents could not undermine the relations between the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples. The relations between the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples have stood the test of time to become exemplary, he said. It is evidenced by personal friendly ties between President Ilham Aliyev and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, in particular by what they said during their meeting late last year. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on February 16 Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the US Senior National Security Council Director Fiona Hill, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on Feb. 16. The sides discussed the bilateral dialogue and cooperation issues between the United States of America and Azerbaijan. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov informed the US official on the latest situation of the negotiation process over the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was stressed that the resolution of the conflict would provide sustainable development and prosperity in the region. At the meeting there was also an exchange on regional and international issues of mutual interest. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend In 2018, the transshipment of containers at the Baku International Sea Trade Port amounted to 22,886 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) - about 3.8 million tons, which is 49 percent more compared to the previous year, a source in the port told Trend. As for passenger traffic, its volume reached a 20-year record figure - 47,736 people (an increase of 44 percent over the year). The cargo transshipment potential of the Baku port within the first phase is 15 million tons, including 100,000 containers per year. Seven berths out of 12 existing ones serve dry-cargo ships, two berths serve ferries, and another two berths serve the Ro-Ro and Ro-Pax vessels. Another berth is used to service the flotilla of the port. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The quota for foreign labor force in Azerbaijan is 6,600 people for 2019, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Azerbaijan Sahil Babayev told Trend. He said that during the process of developing a quota, the ministry took into account in which industry there is a need for foreign skilled labor force. "We dont attract foreigners to the industries where we can provide ourselves with working-age population," he noted. "The quota has already been established for the current year, it wont change, so no reductions in this indicator are expected." Next year, the ministry will proceed from the needs in different areas, he said. "In this regard, we will send requests to the relevant organizations that operate in various sectors of the economy," he added. "Then we will compare this data with the database of labor force in Azerbaijan, and only after that a quota approval committee will be assembled and will make a final decision on this issue." --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 22 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 17, Trend reports. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Thailands princess shocked the country Friday by announcing a prime ministerial bid, but her candidacy quickly crumbled after her brother, King Vajiralongkorn, called it inappropriate. Princess Ubolratana was selected to run by a party linked to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in an audacious bid to break the militarys hold on power. The royals have historically steered clear of politics and, under the countrys laws, cant even be insulted. Though Princess Ubolratana technically renounced her royal titles after marrying an American, she remains linked to the family. Shes a popular and glamorous figure who has starred in films and performed with pop stars, per the BBC Her unlikely bid ended after the palace said it would defy the nation's traditions, customs and culture. Thailands electoral commission today released a list of candidates for the March 24 election, and the princess wasnt on it. The big picture: This will be the first election since current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha overthrew the democratically elected government in 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a secret meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last September, an Israeli official told me. Why it matters: Israel hasn't had diplomatic relations with Morocco since start of the second intifada in 2000. The two countries had full diplomatic relations between 1995 and 2000 after the Oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. An Israeli official told me that Netanyahu stressed in the meeting that Israel wants to normalize relations with Morocco. He also said that he is interested in visiting Morocco publicly like the visit he made in November to Oman. Netanyahu and Bourita also discussed efforts to counter Iranian actions in the region, the official told me. Morocco has cut ties with Iran over alleged Iranian attempts to meddle in Moroccan internal affairs. Netanyahu's office did not deny this account and told me: "We do not comment on contacts with countries Israel has no formal relations with." Go deeper: Israeli report says Saudis won't back Trump peace plan without concessions 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. Update: My eVisitor visa was granted a few hours after posting this thread, which I'm incredibly happy and thankful about. So, fortunately the question is no longer relevant and the admin is welcome to delete the thread, as there have been no replies anyway. Athens, TX (75751) Today Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 94F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Generally clear. Low near 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. You are the owner of this article. Support local journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Local Magazine is here! The summer 2021 issue of Local Magazine is out. Pick up a copy of your favorite local magazine around town or peruse our e-edition below. Because the best things in life are local. Of custody and crypto The normally staid world of custody banking is now having to embrace the wild child of global assets: cryptocurrency. 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Please note *Your Subscription will Automatically Renew unless you contact Customer Service To Cancel* That it came just before President Trump refused in his State of the Union address to commit to an amnesty-for-wall deal was actually coincidental. Although the land granted under the Treaty was exchanged for money and debt-relief (and ratified by large majorities of both the Mexican and Democrat-led U.S. senates ), today the transfer is routinely characterized as an act of theft. Because of this, so the argument goes, both a border wall along those lands and a denial of amnesty are respectively illegitimate and unjust. This month marks the 171 st anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo; the 1848 agreement that ended the Mexican-American War and secured for the U.S. most of the lands of California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, as well as small parts of Colorado and Kansas. The stolen-land or reconquest argument for amnesty stands out among the others because, as Samuel Huntington once pointed out, it is fundamentally an aggressive one. It suggests that amnesty is a form of justice and that it is Mexicans right to freely enter these parts of the U.S. since it was once their land. As the slogan goes: We didnt cross the borders, the border crossed us. It stands for immigration as vindication. Examples of this angle abound in op-eds throughout institutional news outlets (here, here, and here, for instance), but Ill focus on this one in the New York Times penned by Enrique Krauze, arguably [Mexicos] most prominent public intellectual, according to the New Yorker. Quoting him at length, he writes: Three centuries before the ancestors of Mr. Trump landed on United States soil, there were Mexicans in that northern territory known as New Spain and Mexico. But neither they nor their descendants are even symbolically part of American national pride. It is time for it to come fully into the light, to be recognized and vindicated. For us Mexicans, this is the chance for a kind of reconquest We need a reconquest of the memory of that war so prodigal in atrocities inspired by racial prejudices and greed for territorial gain. Of course, its true that the indigenous people of the Southwest inhabited the region before the presidents ancestors (who arrived in the late 1800s) as well as the early English settlers. In the mid-1500s, they were colonized by Spanish conquistadores and then, in 1810, forcibly made to merge into newly independent Mexico. That they were subsumed into a Spanish-turned-mestizo population along the way isnt mentioned by Krauze and rarely is elsewhere because it creates a problem. Although there certainly were earlier arrivals in the Southwest than the English, the Spanish were imperialists who enslaved indigenous males and turned the women into concubines. The entire premise of the reconquest argument is that the U.S. aggressively took the Southwest and is, therefore, holding it illegitimately. In forgetting this, the argument simply becomes one of who stole the land from the indigenous first. As NumbersUSA founder Roy Beck has put it, Mexicans who make this argument have no more claim on free migration to the U.S. than do citizens of Great Britain who can point out that their country once owned what is now the eastern U.S. but lost it in a violent takeover by the Americans. Further, the population of the region in 1848 was miniscule, at around 80,000 or just one percent of Mexicos population at the time. And when the U.S. offered citizenship to the mestizo inhabitants, most took it. Because the population was small and most stayed put, Mexicans south of the border today have little to no ancestral claim to them or the land. In other words, theres nothing to take back. According to the government-funded Brookings Institute, its partly President Trumps fault that such a narrative exists. In commenting on the Demand Whats Ours campaign to nullify the Treaty (on the grounds that it was signed under duress), Brookings Vanda Felbab-Brown opined that it was an indication just how much the President has managed to alienate Mexico. But according to a Zogby poll going back to 2002, its Mexican schools, where the reconquest narrative is widely taught, that are largely to blame. It found that 58 percent of those polled in Mexico thought the territory of the United States Southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico. Theres little reason to think this opinion has lost popularity. As for whos to blame in the U.S., theres certainly numerous public and influential figures who should be called out. Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), for instance, was an early joiner of the most prominent U.S.-based organization pushing for reconquest: the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan or MECha (Aztlan being their name for the Southwest after its taken back). If he hasnt disavowed this irredentist organization yet, he should. Presidential candidate Julian Castro grew up steeped in a similarly extremist atmosphere. His mother was a prominent member of La Raza Unida (United Race), a pro-reconquest political party from the 1970s founded by University of Texas-Arlington professor (and virulent racist), Jose Angel Gutierrez. Castro today praises his mothers activism. Another academic is University of New Mexico professor Charles Truxillo, who once threatened that reconquest must be secured by any means necessary (He later dialed it back to a Krauze-esque soft reconquest). His violent vision later came to life in Raul Ramos y Sanchezs 2009 novel American Libre, a Turner Diaries of sorts for Hispanic ethno-nationalists which portrays a vicious war to create La Republica Hispana de America, all in the name justicia. The book was widely reviewed and distributed by a leading publisher, Grand Central Publishing. They too should be challenged. Early in that novel, when the Mexican-American hero is still on the fence about joining la revolucion, the leader of the separatists tips him over the edge by applying the reconquest narrative, telling him: The ground youre standing on belonged to Hispanic settlers when your great-grandfather was alive. The gabachos didnt ask permission to come here. They swarmed over the land and overran the locals by sheer numbers. One-hundred and seventy-one years later, its the swarmers whove been overrun; a fact apparently to be celebrated and pursued further by many here and in Mexico as an act of retribution, and vindication, and justice. Dale L. Wilcox is the executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration. Latest news is that the leftist senator, who claimed an Indian identity to claw her way into ivy league professorships via affirmative action, was interrupted by hecklers right out the gate in the opening days of her campaign. Delusion and denial have sunk deep roots over at the Elizabeth Warren campaign. According to the Daily Mail: Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren was heckled on stage during a campaign stop Saturday after her claims to be Native American. A man holding a 1/2020th sign repeatedly called out: 'Why did you lie?' as she spoke as the event in Georgia. She was forced to reply 'be easy, be easy' and the crowd booed as the man was led away. Chants of 'Warren' rung out in the hall as he held up his parody campaign sign at the event in Lawrenceville. The 69-year-old Democrat told her supporters: 'It's ok, we're good.' She had appeared to have been trying to tell her backstory when she was interrupted. Obviously, she's trying to put on a brave face as she tries to steer the topic back to policy issues. Like anyone wants to hear about that. In the wake of her colossal temerity to claim American Indian status not just in law school directories, not just on her Texas bar card, not just in her bid to get coveted ivy league professorships both at Penn and Harvard, not just in her genetic test (which showed Latin American ancestry as low as 1/1024 percent), not just her absurd 'apologies' for the claim (which was really the stealing the opportunity from a real Native American scholar though she didn't admit that much) , she's pretty much defined herself. And that's posing a problem for her campaign as she attempts to talk policy and predatory lenders in a bid to whip up support, reliving those Obama-era golden years. When the reality now is that her candidacy demonstrates to voters just how easily gamed the affirmative action system actually is. And she has yet to address that issue. Policy issues are hard to talk about for a general audience. But gaming the system isn't, and that's why the voters are glomming onto that one. Can she live it down by pretending to ignore it? Not when there's so much other fakery going on with Democrats in general, and the 2020 campaign amounts to a very crowded field. As Twitter goliath James Woods tweeted: Nigerians and fake nooses, MAGA hats and a #CraftyBeaver. #CowFarts and trains to Hawaii. A lying Senator saying shes a Cherokee. A #HeelsUp Senator sleeping her way to the bottom. Congresswoman married her own brother? Governor in a KKK robe. Ah, #Democrats!!! Gotta love em! James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) February 17, 2019 fo Call her campaign toast then. The hecklers show she's not living this down, and she's not living this down because she's not admitted the truth about the reality - that she gamed the system for advantage. Image credit: Daily Mail, via CBS46, via Mediaite video screen grab When the campaign trail takes you to a boutique, and @MaeveReston spots a great sequined jacket for @KamalaHarris to try on. #campaignfashionreport pic.twitter.com/38bYJKqjRI Strike you as a little too close for objective journalism? From as self-important a news operation as CBS? Update: Washington Examiner found that actually, there were a lot of these tweets, it wasn't exactly a slip-up or aberration. Next question is whether Huey-Burns can be trusted to report the news next time Harris gets caught telling another phony story, or a scandal around her staff comes forward from other sources. Oh wait. One such case already did, and as a matter of fact, and CNN's Reston covered it all right, a day late, with the CNN story featuring Harris's denial of any knowledge of the matter. That scandal was that her top aide, her Division of Law Enforcement chief, Larry Wallace, forced the state of California to pay $400,000 in sex harassment compensation during Harris's tenure as California state attorney general. CNN uncritically framed its story about Harris's denial, in multiple paragraphs, as its news hook, making it basically a story featuring the denial, not the actual scandal itself. To learn why Harris's denial lacked any credibility whatsover, you would have to go to the local print reporting, such as that of the Sacramento Bee, which described just how close Harris was to this sex-harassing aide she now claims to know nothing about. CBS, meanwhile, relegated its denial-heavy coverage solely to its local affiliate and the story died there in the Sacramento darkness. Girlfriend solidarity? You bet. In CNN's case, the suckuppery is already pretty thick, with quite a few other cases of bias toward Harris. With the chick-bonding over the shopping trip out now, it all looks like gal solidarity, chicks who shop together, bias together. Just don't call it news. This is in fact, public relations. These people are so close to their sources they participate in the photo ops to create the news, and now they're so far gone they don't even try to hide it. They want you to know they're pals with their candidate. They don't care if you think it might affect the objectivity of their reportage. They're going to do anything they think will help Harris and humanize her to get less politically cognizant people to vote for her. Here are some of the negative tweets that came of the whole thing: The mainstream media serve as the press secretary for the Democratic party. It's a laughable joke. Mike (@mike4libertyCA) February 16, 2019 This isn't reporting, it's fawning. Underwater (@ScubaStef2) February 16, 2019 Clearly objective journalisming going on here just gabriel (@presidentgabe) February 16, 2019 Looks as if well be able to rely on her coverage. Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 17, 2019 Democracy dies in darkness or in this case a boutique store #Journalism Adam Kleinfeld (@Ajkleinfeld) February 16, 2019 Could you be any further in the tank? Its fine but just admit it and lets move on. ERDR (@percocetopenia) February 16, 2019 And here's one last good one from Fox News big Brit Hume: Talk about missing the point. Did journalists help Walker pick out his motorcycle, then gush about it on Twitter? Did they they help Romney on with his life jacket? That Kamala Harris shopping incident wasnt coverage, it was participation. https://t.co/tjg7OqJ7uu Brit Hume (@brithume) February 16, 2019 What I'd really like to know now is why Harris isn't counting this as a political campaign contribution. It is, and these shills for Harris are debasing the very idea of news. Image credit: Twitter screen grab Last week in Viareggio, Italy, the citizens paraded with a huge float depicting President Trump as Hercules. Looking at his many accomplishments against countless enemies and political opponents, the depiction was not inapt. Like Hercules, he defeated the Queen of the Amazons, and this week, he's going on to clean out the Augean Stables. In this respect, he's aided by the utter stupidity of his opponents. For decades now, under the guise of environmental protection, the far left has tied down America's economy. It's been largely gradual, hidden in fancy language and supported by those little harmed by these restrictions. Last week, freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose previous experience was bartending, and Senator Ed Markey, whose commercial experience before entering the political ring was driving an ice cream truck, proposed a Green New Deal. Without reading it, all or most (I can't keep track of all of them) of the announced Democratic presidential candidates endorsed it, to their subsequent embarrassment when the details they hadn't bothered to read became known. Ocasio-Cortez kindly provided a FAQ cheat sheet, which revealed how insane the plan was. When the details were known, she withdrew it, offering up various versions of why it wasn't the real Cliff's Notes of the deal. In any event, taking advantage of the opportunity to put the Democrats to the test, Senator majority leader Mitch McConnell announced he'd bring the resolution to the Senate floor for a vote, at which time cosponsor Ed Markey accused McConnell of "sabotage" and trying to "silence" voters. Tom Maguire had fun with the charge: Uh huh. Voting on the bill is "sabotage". And if Trump were to sign it Pelosi would probably view it as an impeachable offense (mental incapacity?!?). What's Markey's message, "Stop me before I speak again"? Now, let me have a To Be Fair moment: Markey might have envisioned committee hearings, expert testimony, and a chance to build public support for his pandering left-wing dreamscape. After which the bill would die in committee, where only a few sacrificial lambs from the Democratic side would have to stand and be slaughtered counted. But, ooops now they will all have a chance at Auto-beclownment. So, a possible dodge Markey and the Dem Senate leadership could pull a page from the Mitch-Fu playbook and filibuster their own bill. Would that be even more embarrassing? Do these guys (and gals!) even know what embarrassment is anymore? Buck Sexton had fun with this jiu-jitsu, too: Cory Booker joined the Dem Weirdo Show this past week. Cortez-Markey's plan to save the planet by eliminating airplane travel (about which even Hawaiian lefty Mazie Hirono had reservations absent a high speed over-the-ocean railroad to Hawaii) and killing cows wasn't enough for him. He wanted us all to become vegans to sustain the planet. No meat, no eggs, just vegetables and fruit. (It boggles the mind to think how much farmland it would take to substitute vegetable protein for meat and eggs and where in the world all that fertilizer would come from.) Newt Gingrich tweeted an observation: "So Democrats can get the Vegan vote and Republicans can get everyone who goes to McDonald's. Wendy's Burger King, Arby's, Chick-Fil-A, Outback, Ruth's Chris, etc. etc." Cortez and Markey weren't the only ones upset that people quoted them. Andrew McCabe, who earlier in the week testified to his participation in an attempted coup to remove the president from office, later contested "his own words." Andrew McCabe now contests *his own words* admitting he attempted to launch a coup from inside of the administration. Also, DOJ internal probe found he lied under oath several times & sabotaged own FBI colleagues. McCabe belongs in a federal penitentiary.https://t.co/wFLUVP1VGw Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) February 15, 2019 B. The Wall Showdown And then there's the Wall. This week after the conference committee on the border (and other spending) bill finished its opus: a 1,159-page report, lawmakers had about 40 hours to learn before the vote was taken. It was full of poison pills concerning the wall and border security in an obvious strategy to force the president to sign it or force the government to shut down in the absence of any spending authorization. What he did instead was sign the bill over his own objections and declare that the situation at the border is a national emergency, which allows him to take affirmative measures to secure the border and to ignore the most onerous restrictions the conference committee had agreed to impose on his ability to restrict illegal entries into the U.S. from across the southern border. To be sure, there will be a lot of leftist and media criticism and suggestions to the Democrats as to how to end-run it. To aid you in understanding the issue, I suggest this comprehensive article written five years ago in USA Today, which, I think, provides the clearest history of emergency proclamations. In sum, at that point in time, there were already 30 stated separate emergency proclamations or executive orders in effect. Each gives presidents broad extraordinary powers including "seizing property, call[ing] up the National Guard and hir[ing] and fir[ing] military officers at will. " Among the other powers are suspending environmental laws, bypassing federal contracting laws, and buying and selling federal property without competitive bidding. (President Obama declared 13 national emergencies, of which 11 are still active. Bill Clinton used this authority 17 times; President Trump has used it only three times to date.) In 1976, Congress passed the National Emergencies Act. Since then, presidents have declared "at least 53 states of emergency." If Congress doesn't agree with the emergency power declaration, the 1976 Act provides a remedy and I think it is the only remedy consistent with that act and the Constitution: passing a bill to rescind it, something Ocasio-Cortez has said she will try to do. (Speaker Pelosi talked earlier of seeking judicial relief, but it's my opinion that the act, consistent with the separation of powers, provides the only route to overturn it.) I do not see rescission passing muster in both houses of Congress, no matter how much the NYT and others wish that were so. But should it, the president can veto it, and I doubt that the left has sufficient votes to overturn that. The author of the USA Today article notes, "In 38 years, only one resolution has been introduced to cancel an emergency." That occurred in 2005, when President George W. Bush declared an emergency post-Katrina, providing that reconstruction need not be done under the Bacon-Davis Act requiring workers to be paid prevailing wages. In that instance, President Bush revoked it within two months, so no resolution to revoke it was passed. Apart from the likelihood that the act's own provision on rescission provides the only relief, there's a longstanding rule of law that one must avail oneself of all available remedies before seeking judicial relief, which means no reasonable court would entertain this until after a resolution to rescind was tried and failed. Moreover, it's difficult to see how the House of Representatives would meet the legal hurdles of standing to pursue the claim. The president has already been at work building portions of the wall. Bills are pending in four states to raise funds to build it. The Democrats' latest cutie-pie candidate, Beto O'Rourke said, "Walls do not save lives; walls end lives," reasoning that walls will only force illegals to take chances on entering in from more dangerous, remote places. Such is the brainpower of the left. While Pelosi took off during the shutdown and later during the negotiations to vacation in luxury, Trump was hard at work, setting the table that is, making Americans aware of the dangers inherent in the open borders policies. The Democrats fell into a trap by insisting on provisions in the compromise bill that no rational border-defender could agree to. I think they bid a low pair of cards against Trump's royal flush, and they will lose. Thinking about Cultural Appropriation The past few weeks saw no shortage of writing on the teenagers from Covington Catholic. By now, most people realize that the medias coverage of this event is a textbook example of why the term fake news resonates with the public: despite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many mainstream news outlets continue to insist that the adults who were harassing these adolescents were actually the victims. One thing that received little coverage was that percussionist and anti-personal space crusader Nathan Phillips initially refused to meet with the students to discuss the incident. Later he agreed to meet the students and their families -- but only to have a dialogue about cultural appropriation. The term cultural appropriation used to be one that was familiar only to those masochistic enough to spend time a lot of time on college campuses, but like most academic drivel, it has trickled down into everyday speech. Cultural appropriation is when one commandeers the cultural property of an identity group to which one does not belong for ones own purposes. There used to be agreement that appropriation wasnt inherently malevolent -- that some appropriation can be an appreciation of or homage to cultural difference. But in the push to the far-left over the last decade, a new consensus seems to be rising: that any appropriation is an egregious wrong, regardless of intent or context. This is why white people who choose to wear their hair in dreadlocks might be verbally attacked in public and why a dress influenced by Asian trends can provoke a backlash if worn by someone who is not Asian. Instances of appropriation drive much of the leftist outrage culture on social networks and in the media. But if people on the left followed their thinking about identity, racism, and discrimination through to the conclusion, they would see that their accusations of appropriation do not work to end white male privilege. On the contrary: the appropriation gotcha game actually perpetuates (and indeed, even produces) the set of phenomena that they (somewhat inaccurately) call white privilege. Conceptually, appropriation requires a notion of cultural property. Cultural property is the stupid idea that the race, gender, or culture that invented and/or make most use of something (whether that is a style, object, belief, or otherwise) own that thing and thereby have a right to dictate and police who uses it and how. By this logic, people with black African heritage own dreadlocks because their hair more readily lends itself to the style and it is a more popular style in black culture than in others. Also by this logic, Belgians own the saxophone because it was invented by a Belgian named Adolphe Sax in 1846. But only a fool would say that John Coltrane should have sought permission from the Belgians before picking up the instrument. Theres another problem. Like most inventions, the saxophone relied on earlier ideas and technologies that were pioneered by other cultures. The sax was influenced by certain design features of the clarinet, which has potential origins in cultures all over the map. Was Sax appropriating when he designed the saxophone? Who owns the clarinet? Who cares? The contemporary American left is obsessed with white privilege. By their account, white privilege is maintained by the invisibility of whiteness -- that is, white ways of understanding the world come to be viewed as not simply white, but normal. They argue that this normative power of whiteness makes it imperceptible -- and this invisibility is the key to white hegemony. Of course, white privilege in America is really majority privilege, which is not particularly insidious given that it exists in virtually every culture in the world except ones where a minority is able seize cultural power via brute force (as was the case in a place like South Africa under apartheid). But critics on the left go even further: many argue that white Americans consciously work to maintain this invisibility because it enables white privilege. It would seem, then, that to make whiteness visible its critics would need to explicitly identify the aspects of culture that are associated with whiteness. Put differently, the left would need to define the cultural property of whites. But exactly the opposite is true. There has never been a high-profile media outrage about some appropriation of white culture. This is because when it comes to whiteness, the left throws the idea of cultural property out the window. It seems to be impossible to wrongfully appropriate white culture. This is because any of the cultural inventions that are historically associated with people from an ethnically European background really dont belong to them. They belong to everyone. The saxophone belongs to everyone. Treating a bacterial infection with penicillin belongs to everyone. Clothing with plaid designs belongs to everyone. And that is how it should be. The problem only arises when minority cultures in America are granted the right to own cultural property and majority cultures are deprived of this right. The problem is exacerbated when minority cultures are given license to zealously guard and police uses of their cultural property, while majority culture is for everyone. This builds resentment among people: members of the majority resent that they are barred from owning cultural property and members of the minority resent unauthorized uses of their cultural property. But further, and more importantly, depriving white Americans of cultural property is precisely how whiteness is allowed to operate invisibly as a cultural norm. Whiteness is emptied of its content and this is what allows it to escape definition and representation. In short, the lefts dedication to the idea of appropriation is producing and maintaining white privilege. The solution, of course, is to abandon the notion of cultural property for all groups. In fact, one would expect the left would be eager to do so, given their misgivings about property rights at large. But that cant happen. Because maintaining cultural property and appropriation-outrage is essential for ensuring the attitude of victimhood that the far left relies upon to advance its agenda. And these things were what I thought about as I looked at the images of Nathan Phillips, the man who sought to lecture his victims and their families about cultural appropriation. I noticed his glasses. Its debatable whose cultural property spectacles are, but I dont think Native Americans are in the mix. Looking at pictures of him on the internet, I noticed that he often wears clothing that does not conform to the styles of traditional Native American dress. Is that appropriation? The truth is that if cultural property exists, then we are all appropriating all the time. And if thats the case, then it seems silly to be furious about some benign appropriations while we are so blase about others. In a pluralistic democratic society, cultural borrowing and sharing should be expected. If (as critics on the left insist) our diversity is our strength, then that cannot be true if the strongest ideas, practices, and beliefs cannot be adapted to the need of the public at large. Understood as an oppressive act of hate, the very notion of appropriation is a hindrance to a society that prides itself on being one -- one people -- forged from the many. It would be interesting to hear Phillips thoughts on the abolition of cultural property and appropriation. But something tells me that wont be part of the lecture. Adam Ellwanger is an associate professor of rhetoric at the University of Houston -- Downtown. His interests include persuasion, political philosophy, music, and the cultural zeitgeist writ large. Contact him at ellwangera@uhd.edu Prof. Randall Balmer of Dartmouth University recently posted an opinion piece at the Los Angeles Times with the ironic title God Is on Team Trump? Lets take a quick check with the Bible. The sarcasm is seen when God is on Trumps team, not the other way around. Then he proceeds to dismantle -- at least in his mind -- evangelical support for Trump. The religious left is still looking down on conservative Christian peons for supporting imperfect, feisty Trump. Throughout social media and elsewhere, the left accuses us of compromising our faith and standards. He starts off with more sarcasm that God put his thumb on the scale of the election, so that Trump barely won and only by the Electoral College. Some victory for God! In reply, just because we cannot figure out the details of how God works in an ocean of humanity does not mean God does not have his purposes and works them out. Prof. Balmer seems to assume that if a victory is not a landslide, then God was not at work. Since he wrote a book about evangelicals, he must know that some of them with a more prophetic gifting predicted long before the November 2016 elections that Trumps victory would stun the world. It did. Next, Prof. Balmer tackles immigration and summarized some verses in Leviticus and one in the epistle to the Hebrews (since Heb. 13:2 is talking about household hospitality -- not on a national scale -- and the possibility that an angel could be a guest without our knowledge, lets skip past his wrenching that verse out of context). It is difficult to find mass migration in the ancient world, but lets assume that millions and millions of immigrants moved into ancient Israel in 20-30 years. And lets assume that a certain percentage of them raped and assaulted women and children at the border and transported some sort of ancient, mind-altering drugs. Yes, protect the innocent, but there would be nothing wrong with building a wall back then, much as Israel has done today, to good effect. Obama and other Democrats in the past have said there was a crisis at the border. And there is nothing immoral with securing our borders today with a wall or updating the one that is already there. In any case, these are two different contexts, so lets move on. Then Balmer brings up separating children from their parents at the border. Yes, it happened, but it is a sure thing that he knew that under the Obama administration, the border authorities did the same thing. It is also a certainty that Balmer wrote at least a dozen opinion pieces denouncing Obamas same policies, since the professor was concerned back then about human rights and not just scoring political points against Trump today. Balmer turns his attention to the environment. Yes, God cares for his creation and called it good, but alarmism from faithless, panicky humans is a concern too. Neither he nor I is an expert here, but surely Balmer has read outside his Dartmouth blue bubble and found a huge number of credentialed climate scientists who are skeptical about all the alarmism from the left, as embodied nowadays in Rep. Ocasio-Cortezs recent prediction of earth-shattering disasters by 2030 and her recent green new deal, which would slam the American economy so hard that Dartmouth might lose its big funding and lay off some of the faculty. Then the professor goes on to the standard leftist notions about tax cuts for the rich and quasi-socialism or its full-scale version as the only expression of justice, and quotes Isaiah. However, taxes were cut for a large number of people on a variety of social levels, including the middle class. When we the people keep our own money through lower taxes, then the economy grows and jobs become plentiful because we can spend or invest or give away our new wealth, as we see fit. Businesses can reinvest their capital in their own companies, upgrade, and expand. When businesses expand, they hire new people. And sure enough, this explains, to a large degree, why the economy is booming right now, with record low unemployment for everyone, including an historical low for black Americans. So the best biblical justice is not rapacious taxes on the producers in society -- the ones who started businesses that grew into major corporations that then fund universities like Dartmouth -- but limited government, lower taxes and financial liberty for the people. Heres an easy-to-remember formula for biblical economic justice: Leftist economic policy = slow economy = injustice Conservative economic policy = growing economy = justice. It was especially reassuring for us believers when in his recent SOTU address Pres. Trump denounced socialism as contrary to Americas founding in liberty. So true. So magnificent. It is gratifying to see that 76% approved of the speech and 72% liked his proposals on immigration, showing once again how anti-commonsense leftist professors are out of step with commonsense Americans. The obligatory mention of adultery and the seventh commandment: everyone who voted for Trump knew about his multiple affairs and marriages. No one saw him as a saint. But we also know, as does Balmer, that the sweep of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is about salvation, redemption, and forgiveness, and God helping broken humanity to live better lives. There is no evidence that Trump has turned the White House into a Pleasure Palace, much like JFK and Bill Clinton did. Just the opposite. The president often invites numerous evangelical leaders into the White House, and prayer meetings happen often enough. Revealingly, one area that Balmer overlooked is the snuffing out of prenatal life. He knows that New York now has a bloodthirsty law that allows third trimester abortions. HillaryHillary Clinton had won, the court system would have been stockpiled with judges and justices who would gladly reinforce the bloodguilt in America. The courts and abortion are the major reasons evangelicals voted for Trump. And they are amply satisfied with his support for Israel; his picks of judges and justices who may give the innocents a chance for life and protect religious freedom; his willingness to negotiate with dictators like Kim Jung Un (Balmer would have applauded Obama had he done this, since leftists value dialogues, trialogues, tetralogues, pentalogues, and so on); Trumps economic policies; and his support for churches against legalistic attacks from leftists. I used to be a NeverTrumper and even wrote articles against him (I wont link to them), until I set aside my Pharisaical self-righteousness and gave the man a chance. No more condescension. So, a look over the past two years makes it is easy to believe that God indeed chose Trump, and believers are genuinely grateful to God that Hillary Clinton is not in the White House. James Arlandsons website is Live as Free People, where he has posted Leftwing NY Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz Misses Facts on Race, and William Penn Proclaims Pennsylvanias Charter of Privileges. Postmodern Leftism and the Founding On January 24, in New York Magazine, Eric Levitz wrote an essay defending AOCs proposed 70% marginal tax rate plan, drawing a direct line between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs tax plan and Thomas Jefferson. It was a very odd essay, to be honest. Levitz was only able to draw upon one letter which Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1785 as proof of this connection; a letter in which Jefferson expressed righteous indignation at the wide chasm that existed between the peasants and aristocrats of France under the ancienne regime and in which Jefferson proposed, as a solution, the equal distribution of property to all children in a family, since the inequality which he saw was not only intolerable but made it impossible for republican government to exist. In this way, Levitz argued that Ocasio-Cortezs 70% marginal plan tapped one deeply rooted strain of American thought on economic morality. Levitz is not the first one to do this, either. Jeff Shaw at Progressive Pulse tried to make the argument that Jefferson was an 18th-century progressive, quoting the same letter that Levitz relies on. Like Levitz, Shaw also brought into his roster Thomas Paine, claiming that Paine advocated for a progressive income tax before mentioning that a progressive estate tax was passed by Congress in 1797. And, back in the 40s, at the dedication of the Jefferson Memorial in D.C., President Franklin Roosevelt reconfigured Jefferson as a New Deal Democrat to act as a retroactive stamp for the entire New Deal itself. We are all aware of the advantage given to our ideas if we can show that our idea isnt radically new but actually very old. If our idea has survived throughout different ages and if great men have proposed the same thing or, at least, some cousin to our idea, then it immediately becomes a good idea or a right idea. People have been doing this for ages -- the Greeks tried to connect their civilization to the Egyptians, the Romans connected themselves to Troy, all the kingdoms of the Middle Ages claimed to be the successors of Rome -- the weight of history can be a very good way of legitimizing yourself and your agenda. So even though leftists, as a general rule, do not like the Founders and see them as white, European, slave-holding patriarchs, they still understand that if their ideas can be connected to them, they will gain weight with the rest of the country. The problem is that progressivism cannot be wrapped around the Founders. The last thing they wanted after the treaty of Paris solidified the United States on the map as an independent country was some centralized force that could act as a menace against those rights and liberties again. That was why the Articles of Confederation made Congress so weak and why such strictures were placed on the Constitution when it was created, and why a Bill of Rights was added to that new governing document after it was ratified; why the promise of such a bill was, in some cases, the only reason why it was ratified. This is why there was no federal income tax prior to the Civil War. While Congress had the power to tax the states to gain revenue (an improvement over the Articles of Confederation) it did not have the power to tax individuals, which was seen as the power and prerogative of the states and local governments. It is true, as Jeff Shaw pointed out on the Progressive Pulse, that a progressive property tax was passed by Congress in 1797 which required inheritance documents to be embossed with a purchased stamp; inheritances $50 or less were exempt with the price of the stamps increasing as the inheritance increased. What Shaw did not mention in his essay was that the stamp price of an inheritance of $500 was only a dollar (1/500 of the entire inheritance) and that the tax was passed as a source of revenue for the Quasi-War that was being fought against France at the time and that this tax was rescinded in 1802. While many of the Founders were not opposed to taxation per se (one of their arguments with England had not been taxation but taxation without proper representation) they would have been opposed to the exorbitant tax schemes and rates of the postmodern left. Even if some of the Founders had expressed support for such a plan, they would not have wanted the federal government in charge of it. Jefferson, in his letter to Madison, suggested that inequality such as he saw in France, might be corrected by such means as the abolition of primogeniture, the inheritance of the first born to the entirety of his fathers estate and it is true that primogeniture was abolished -- in Virginia And for that is because the Founders believed in two basic principles that came from several different sources: the natural aristocracy of man and mans imperfectablity. John Adams gave one of the best discourses and defenses of the natural aristocracy of man in a letter to John Taylor in 1814, differentiating between an artificial aristocracy, inequalities of weight and superiorities of influence that were created by laws and the natural aristocracy, the inequalities of virtues and talents that were present throughout history in every nation and village. It was the former that Jefferson reacted with such vehemence in France and not the latter which was accepted as just the natural order of things. It still is acknowledged as such when we say things like, Hes a natural at X. And the reason why this natural aristocracy exists in the first place is because man is not perfectable. If he was, the natural aristocracy wouldnt exist because everyone would be equally good and gifted at everything. The fact that man is filled with vices and flaws and weaknesses is not only makes the natural aristocracy a reality, but it also makes government necessary since, as Madison put it in the Federalist Papers, If men were angels, they would have no need for government. But postmodern leftists reject both principles. They reject the natural aristocracy out of a belief in what they call equality, which has no anchor in actual equality, and which can more accurately be defined as egalitarianism, the completely equal result of everyone in everything. And, they believe, that if the natural aristocracy can be abolished and everyone and everything made equal, then utopia will be that much closer to existence, if not here already. And what this requires is, ultimately, the rule of the enlightened -- themselves. The Founders acknowledged that they stood on the shoulders of giants. They also understood that their education and insights and patriotism and virtue did not give them the right to rule, per se; Washington was one of the most virtuous men of his time but when he was offered a crown, dismissed the idea at once. But the left today sees themselves as the natural rulers because they are the enlightened ones, not because they stand on the shoulders of giants but because they have cut the giants down. It's more than policy that divides the postmodern left from the Founding; it is an entire worldview. 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. Make Russia Great Again. That is the mission Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to have adopted in international politics. Following his return to the Kremlin in 2012, he took up a more assertive foreign policy, seeking to secure a seat at the top table of global diplomacy. The effort has paid off. Thanks to its military intervention in Syria, Russia has graduated from a bystander to a leading powerbroker in the Middle East. Showing off this newly acquired status, Putin recently hosted the presidents of Turkey and Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani, to coordinate a joint response to US President Donald Trumps decision to pull US troops out of northeast Syria. The summit marked the two-year anniversary of the so-called Astana Process whose professed goal is to bring the bloodshed in the embattled Middle Eastern country to an end. Conspicuously enough, the US is not part of the forum. Astana, therefore, might be a harbinger of a new global order to come: One in which emergent non-Western powers, such as Russia, China, India and others run the show. Over the past few years, Putin has not shied away from confronting the West. In his early days as leader, he wholeheartedly sided with the US in the aftermath of 9/11 and even touted the prospect of Russia joining NATO. But by the time he delivered his oft-quoted speech at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, Putin had become convinced that the US and its allies were seeking to dethrone him by fomenting colour revolutions across the post-Soviet space. The Arab uprisings in 2010-2011 only confirmed his fears and, as a prime minister, he publicly denounced then-President Dmitry Medvedevs decision not to block a UN Security Council resolution authorising a no-fly zone over Libya, which precipitated the British and French air raids and the ultimate downfall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. But the rift with the West became permanent when Russia annexed Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in the spring of 2014. Since then, Putin has defied both the US and its European allies, who imposed sanctions in response to the annexation as well as to Moscows invasion of Eastern Ukraine, where fighting continues until the present day. Perceptions of Russia have shifted as a result. Up until 2014, the US and the EU considered it a difficult partner but not a full-fledged adversary. Now, the Pentagons national defence strategy casts Russia as a military threat on a par with rising China. NATO has deployed troops in Eastern Europe in order to dissuade Moscow from pursuing aggressive action beyond its borders. There are, moreover, mounting fears that Russia is using a variety of tools, ranging from economic blackmail to cyberattacks and from disinformation to support for populist right-wing and radical leftist parties to undermine its Western competitors from within. The ongoing controversy over Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections, along with the pro-Kremlin rhetoric of anti-immigration politicians in Europe such as Hungarian President Viktor Orban and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, never ceases to generate headlines. The EU has started talking about resilience against external influence campaigns, with its eastern neighbour in mind. But Russia is not that powerful after all. Its GDP of $1.57 trillion is barely 8 percent of the US and comparable to that of a mid-sized European country like Spain. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which Putin finally managed to create in 2014 after years-long efforts, is no match for the economic juggernaut that is the EU. Russias strategic nuclear arsenal, inherited from the once-mighty Soviet Union, is at the same level as the US. Yet, despite the ambitious military reform over the past decade, the Russian conventional forces lag far behind the US armys in terms of capability and technological sophistication. At $63bn, Russias defence budget is far behind that of the US and China, which stand at $643bn and $168bn respectively. Moscow has become better at fighting limited wars such as those in Ukraine and Syria but is not in a position to project military power globally. Despite its relatively close ties to China and India, Russia cannot rely on a stable network of alliances similar to the ones the US enjoys in Europe, East Asia and beyond. In short, the Russian Federation cannot and will not replace the US as the leading power or hegemon in the Middle East or any other part of the world. Even its dominance in post-Soviet Eurasia is a tall order. Countries in Eastern Europe, such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are oriented economically and politically towards the West. In Central Asia, China is becoming increasingly the dominant centre of gravity. In a post-American world, Russia, too, would likely end up as Beijings junior partner rather than an equal stakeholder. The essence of Russias strategy is, to quote the late Russian politician Yevgeny Primakov, to play a weak hand well. In some cases, this involves exploiting an opponents vulnerabilities. Polarised domestic politics in the West have strengthened Russias hand. This has allowed Putin to play more effectively a divide and conquer game. In other cases, Russia has benefited from being flexible. In the Middle East, for instance, it has been successfully cooperating with all mutually antagonistic powers: Iran, Israel, the Gulf, Turkey, the Kurds, etc. Nonetheless, Putins foreign policy record remains mixed. Sometimes his gambles pay off, sometimes not. Russias fighter jets, together with Irans ground troops, saved the Assad regime in Syria. Crimea, too, was a coup. It sent the Russian presidents popularity ratings at home to 80 percent or more. If Nicolas Maduro survives in Venezuela, that will give Russia a further international boost. In Europe, oil and gas endow Moscow with geopolitical leverage; Germany, for example, has been going out of its way to push for the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline, to the dismay of the US. Balkan countries, too, have been eager to host an extension of the Turk Stream pipeline. But then again, there are limits to Moscows power. NATO is enlarging, despite pushback from Russia. This year North Macedonia is set to join the alliance, following in the footsteps of Montenegro. At the same time, Putin is not making much headway in Ukraine. The conflict in the Donbas has long been in a state of deadlock while Kyiv is not accepting a Russian proposal for a power-sharing constitution which would effectively give Russia veto power over its foreign policy. Furthermore, international success has come at a cost. The sanctions imposed by the EU and the US are still there. Despite or perhaps because of Donald Trumps friendly overtures towards the Kremlin, the US Congress has been ramping up punitive measures against Russia. The Mueller investigation and the alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin have made a rapprochement even more unlikely. For much of the past decade, this pursuit of greatness abroad was paying off domestically, giving Putin legitimacy and solidifying his grip on power. That appears to be less and less the case, however. Foreign exploits are no longer able to boost his rating. Gains in Syria, the Central African Republic or Venezuela are not buying the regime popularity. Russian society is increasingly focused on immediate challenges at home, like anaemic growth, the projected rise of the pension age, and debilitating corruption. Trust in institutions is low, with only Putin retaining popularity as an individual. Social discontent is on the rise and the Western sanctions, in conjunction with volatile oil prices, are adding to the pain. Certainly, these domestic pressures wont force the Kremlin to undertake a U-turn and sue for peace. But they come as a healthy reminder that the idea that Russia is a revisionist power capable of upending the world order and Putin is a leader endowed with superhuman abilities is a far cry from reality. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Decades of Israeli efforts to demolish, destroy, rename, rewrite and erase everything Palestinian have been in vain. Everything Palestinian in Jerusalem is targeted by Israeli occupation, said Palestinian Archbishop of Jerusalems Greek Orthodox Church, Atallah Hanna on January 29 during a meeting with a delegation from the medical aid organisation Doctors without Borders. The Islamic and Christian holy sites and endowments are targeted in order to change our city, hide its identity and marginalise our Arabic and Palestinian existence, the archbishop added. Hanna, who has been at the forefront of the Palestinian Muslim and Christian struggle against Israels Judaisation schemes, is, of course, correct in his assertion that Jerusalem is targetted. But the truth is that there is a systematic campaign to strip not just the holy city off of its Palestinian character, but also the whole of Palestine. A few days after the Palestinian Christian leader made his comments, Israeli authorities carried out excavations in the historic al-Bahr Mosque in the city of Tiberias, on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee. In its place, Israel aims to establish a museum, a practice it has used many times in the past in order to erase historic symbols of Palestinian existence. An invented people Israels disregard for the historical rights of Palestinians is deeply rooted in Zionist ideology. Indeed, from the very start, Zionist ideologues promoted the idea that Palestine was a place bereft of culture or heritage an arid desert, waiting for Zionist pioneers to make it bloom. For those claims to acquire a degree of plausibility and for the myth of Palestine as a land without a people for a people without a land to be solidified, the Zionist movement needed to erase the very existence of the Palestinian people. After the establishment of the Israeli state, its leaders never made it a secret that this is indeed their intention. It is not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-74) said in an interview with the Sunday Times in June 1969. The notion that Palestinians are not a people with a collective sense of nationhood has remained a defining concept of Zionism until this day and has spread well beyond Israels borders. American Christian evangelicals are particularly avid supporters of the idea, which has led some American politicians to also publicly embrace it. In 2011, for example, then US presidential candidate Newt Gingrich told the Jewish Channel that the Palestinians were an invented people. The practical application of this idea has meant that the construction of anything Jewish Israeli whether it is cities, settlements, bypass-roads or numerous edifices of art, culture, religion and so on has had to take place in parallel to the demolition and erasure of Palestinian cities, villages, streets, homes, cultural and religious sites. Erasing Palestinian existence On July 19, 2018, the Israeli Knesset passed the nation-state bill, practically making apartheid official by defining Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people and marginalising Palestinians, their history and language. However, that bill was the mere culmination of decades-long efforts. During the British mandate, the colonial authorities, for example, were using predominantly Arabic names of localities, towns and villages; there were some about 3,700 of them. By contrast, there were just 200 Hebrew toponyms, most of them being names of Jewish settlements, including new ones that were being built under the patronage of the Zionist movement. This was quite indicative of the demographic distribution and land ownership in Palestine at the time (at the beginning of the British mandate in the 1920s, the Jews, including newly arrived settlers, were just 11 percent of the total population). However, as soon as the Israeli state was created against the will of the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab population of the Middle East, a vicious campaign to remap Palestine was launched. A 1948 letter sent to first Israeli Interior Minister Yitzhak Gruenbaum read: The conventional names should be replaced by new ones since, in an anticipation of renewing our days as of old and living the life of a healthy people that is rooted in the soil of our country, we must begin in the fundamental Hebraicization of our countrys map. Soon after, a government commission was created and tasked with renaming everything Palestinian so the new state can lay its claim on towns, villages and various other geographical areas. Another letter written in August 1957 by an Israeli foreign ministry official urged the Israeli Department of Antiquities to speed up the destruction of Palestinian homes conquered during the Nakba. The ruins from the Arab villages and Arab neighbourhoods, or the blocs of buildings that have stood empty since 1948, arouse harsh associations that cause considerable political damage, he wrote. They should be cleared away. For Israel, erasing Palestine and writing the Palestinian people out of the history of their own homeland have always been a strategic endeavour. Considered as a major accomplishment of modern Jewish nationalism, the Hebraicization of Israel usually refers to the revival of the Hebrew language undertaken by and associated with Zionism as a restorative project of nation-building, Israeli academics Maoz Azaryahu and Arnon Golan wrote (PDF) in their paper (Re)naming the Landscape: the Formation of the Hebrew Map of Israel. A lesser known aspect of the Hebraicization of Israel, however, has been the Hebraicization of the map, a state-promoted national project whose objective was To Judaize (sic) the map of Israel and to affix Hebrew names to all geographical features in the map of Israel. This is as true in the case of Palestine, as it was in the case of all colonised nations. And like other settler-colonialist powers, Israel is well aware of the important rapport between places, names and collective identities of the indigenous, colonised people. As Canadian historian Kaleigh Bradley pointed out in a recent essay: For indigenous peoples, place names act as mnemonic devices, embodying histories, spiritual and environmental knowledge, and traditional teachings. Place names also serve as boundary markers between home and the world of outsiders. The Israeli Zionist campaign to rename Palestinian places, destroy Palestinian heritage sites, claim Palestinian culture, undermine the Arabic language and erase cultural contributions of the Palestinian people has continued for over 70 years now. More recently, the Israeli army has used its violent military assaults on Palestinians not only to take Palestinian lives but also to destroy cultural monuments and places of worship of historical significance. According to official Palestinian reports, Israel destroyed 73 mosques in the 51-day war on the besieged Gaza Strip in 2014. Some of these mosques, like al-Omari Mosque in Jabaliya, are ancient structures that date back more than a thousand years. Al-Omari Mosque was built nearly 1365 years ago and has served as a symbol of hope for Palestinians in Gaza, a reminder of past grandeur. The Israeli authorities have also increased pressure on Islams third-holiest site: al-Aqsa Mosque. It has facilitated the forceful incursions of the Temple Mount Faithful, an extremist Jewish group, into the Haram al-Sharif compound, where the mosque is located. The group has declared that it is keen on destroying al-Aqsa Mosque in order to build a Third Temple on Temple Mount something the Israeli government clearly also wishes for. There have been various attacks on Palestinian cultural heritage in Nablus, al-Khalil (Hebron), Ariyha (Jericho), Yaffa (Jaffa), Haifa and many other Palestinian towns and villages. Yet, despite all of this destruction, on intellectual and political levels, Israel still remains insecure about its past and uncertain of its future. Palestinian sumud In an interview with the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, prominent Israeli historian Benny Morris predicted a grim future for his country. This place will deteriorate into a Middle Eastern state with an Arab majority, he said referring to Israel and Palestine. The violence between various populations inside the state will continue to increase The Arabs will demand the return of the refugees. The Jews will remain as a small minority in a large Arab sea of Palestinians a persecuted minority or a slaughtered minority, as it was when they lived in Arab countries. In another 30 to 50 years, they will overcome us, one way or another, he added. It doesnt matter whether Morris offensive prediction was meant to manipulate existing fears among his countrymen, to hype the sense of victimisation that continues to define the collective Israeli Jewish mindset, or to communicate his honest feelings. Either way, his statement explains why Israel acts against the Palestinian identity with such a great sense of urgency, intensifying attacks on Palestinian culture, speeding up annexation of Palestinian land, expanding Jewish settlements and Jewish-only roads, renaming streets, marginalising the Arabic language or, to use Archbishop Hannas, targeting everything Palestinian. But the foretold demise of Israel as a Jewish state will come not as a result of the Arab majority slaughtering the persecuted minority, but as a result of Israels own reckless actions. Before the Zionists, there were many other invaders. Many fled, but many others chose to stay and were naturally integrated into the fabric of the diverse Palestinian society. Israel refuses to accept the fact that the Palestinians relationship with their land cannot be dictated or terminated by violence, Knesset bills or army decrees. To the contrary, the more aggression is unleashed onto the Palestinians, the stronger the Palestinian sense of nationhood grows. The late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in his seminal poem, ID Card was able to capture brilliantly this Palestinian spirit of resistance: I am a name with no honorific. Patient in a land Where everything lives in bursting rage My roots were planted before time was born Before history began Before the cypress and the olive trees Before grass sprouted Early Zionists were wrong. Destroying Palestinian villages, changing street names and demolishing mosques and churches cannot succeed in erasing a nations sense of identity. Palestinian sumud (steadfastness) has turned out to be far superior and more powerful than any and all of Israels military and political stratagems. And it is this steadfastness that will guarantee that Morris prediction comes true. The great Palestinian sea will swallow the occupier. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Mosul, Iraq Almost two years after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared it liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group, the Old City of Mosul remains largely in ruins. This historic part of Iraqs second largest city was home to half a million people before the ISIL took control in 2013. This densely populated area on the western banks of the Tigris used to be Mosuls economic centre and beating heart. When the ISIL fighters decided to make their last stand in its naturally protected narrow streets, the Old City became the target of some of the heaviest coalition air attacks and the Iraqi army shelling. The United Nations says that 5,000 buildings have been damaged in the Old City alone, while 500 were totally destroyed. Some neighbourhoods have been entirely wiped out. The efforts to rebuild have been hampered by an ill-equipped municipality and what local authorities say is a lack of funding. Many residents, like 75-year-old Qassim Yahya, blame rampant corruption for the lack of progress. Further complicating relief efforts are hundreds of explosive hazards still buried under the rubble. About 80 people have lost their lives in the incidents involving improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and landmines since the citys liberation in July 2017, according to USAID. Against all the odds, some residents have been steadily returning to the area to rebuild their homes and their lives, reopening small businesses like tea shops and fruit stalls. * Username This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely! A masked man armed with a sledgehammer robbed Jared The Galleria of Jewelry in Hoover Saturday night. The holdup happened just before 7 p.m. at the store on Galleria Circle. Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said witnesses told police the black male entered the store and struck the top of a display case. He announced, this is a robbery and two additional suspects with sledgehammers entered the store with their faces covered. After taking an unknown amount of jewelry, the suspects fled the area in a dark colored car. There were no injuries reported. Employees had been warned to beware after similar robberies have taken place at Jared stores in other states this year. On Jan. 25, authorities say, three men robbed an Indiana store of more than $830,000 in jewelry. The Chicago Tribune reported that that trio entered the store just after 7 p.m. One of the men engaged an employee in conversation, and the other two began smashing display cases with hammers and taking jewelry before fleeing the store. Two men were arrested after a brief foot chase, and police found jewelry in a pillow case and a cloth bag. Two four-pound sledgehammers were recovered from inside the store. Just last week in Tennessee, a Chattanooga Jareds was robbed in similar fashion. According to a Chattanooga Police press release, the robbery happened Feb. 6. Three black male suspects believed to be in their 20s entered the business, one armed with a handgun. The suspects threatened workers, smashed display cases, and fled with an undisclosed amount of jewelry. All three suspects were last seen in a black Chevy Trailblazer. No arrests have been made in the Tennessee case. Police have not indicated any link between the holdups. Anyone with information is asked to call Hoover police Det. Brad Fountain at 205-444-7562. Tipsters who want to remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward can call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. I have never loved Birmingham as much as I love Birmingham tonight, Dr. Angela Davis said to a crowd at Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham. Davis was greeted with a standing ovation, fists raised, as she took the stage to address the generations of activists that came together to make sure she was in Birmingham on Feb.16. It is really a joy to be here this evening, Davis said. It almost feels as if we are marking a new beginning. 78 Dr. Angela Davis returns to Birmingham at Boutwell Auditorium Davis was originally invited by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to accept its annual Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights award. But six weeks ago, the BCRI rescinded the award due to Davis long-term support of Palestine. Activists held demonstrations in the city, including a demonstration in Kelly Ingram Park, directly across from the Civil Rights Institute and three BCRI officers resigned. The Birmingham Committee for Truth and Reconciliation stepped in and created their own event for Davis on Feb. 16. Davis said the misstep is an opportunity for a teaching moment, which shouldnt overshadow the legacy of the BCRI. Davis also noted the legacy Palestinians who stood in solidarity with African Americans as they fought for racial equality. Dr. Angela Davis, activist, academic and poet was born in Birmingham in 1944. She is known for her life of activism, especially during the Civil Rights movement, and her involvement in the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party USA. Davis spoke tonight with Dr. Imani Perry, also from Birmingham and now professor of African-American studies at Princeton University, at a public event put on by a grassroots organization, Birmingham Committee for Truth and Reconciliation. The Boutwell auditorium, a longtime city institution, has hosted a number of historic events and notable figures, some marked by racial conflict. In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan sponsored a minstrel show to raise money for Birmingham City Schools. In 1938, the auditorium was the site of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, featuring speakers Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune. Davis said she was first turned onto activism as a child in Birmingham. The thing about growing up in Birmingham, is that we learned to resist, said Davis. She grew up on the divide between the black and white sides of the city. We used to dare each other to run across the street and run up on their porch and ring their doorbell, knowing good and well what we were doing was illegal. And it was fun! said Davis, smiling as she addressed the audience. One thing I learned about growing up in Birmingham resistance could be fun! Angela Davis addresses the media in Birmingham. Posted by Reckon by AL.com on Saturday, February 16, 2019 Davis also discussed prison reform and the need for the abolition of the U.S. prison system. Racism is embedded in the very apparatus of policing, Davis said. We have to think about something very different and also the abolition of policing as we know it. She pointed to Ferguson, Missouri for changing the way the world sees black activism. Davis studied French and philosophy at Brandeis University and earned a masters degree from the University of California San Diego. Davis said her love of philosophy and critical theory was inspired by the way her mother talked to her and her siblings about segregation in her community. When I was younger, I would ask my mother why cant we go into the amusement park. Or, why cant we go to the big library?" Davis said. The activist and academic says her mother was always honest with her about the harsh realities of segregation. But her mother also taught her that segregation didnt have to be permanent. "Shed tell me this is the way things are now, but this is not the way it always has to be.' I learned from my mother to live in the existing world and at the same time inhabiting an imaginary world. How can I imagine a Birmingham of the future? Now, as a legacy civil rights revolutionary and feminist, Davis says shes in constant dialogue with the next generation of activists. Change has always come from the younger generations. Its very bizarre that as we get older, we forget that, said Davis as the audience erupted into applause. We forget what its like to be young. Sometimes we have to challenge our elders. Davis ended with a call to accept younger activists, to stand with all people who experience oppression and to be patient in knowing acts of resistance may not be sustain change immediately. We have a relationship to our history that is modeled after the capitalist market, and we dont necessarily recognize that the work we do today, while we may not see immediate consequences tomorrow or even next year or even 10 years from now," Davis said." But maybe down the line 20 years, 50 years, or 100 years from now, the work we do makes a difference. To see AL.coms full coverage of this issue, click here. Samson Police are looking to the public to help locate a murder suspect. James Chadwick Green, 45, of Samson, is a white male, 62, 180 lbs with brown hair. Police said he may be driving a red Toyota Tacoma with the license plate Chad1. Police said he is armed and dangerous and should not be approached. Contact local law enforcement if spotted. Police responded Saturday morning to a call of a firearm assault. When they arrived on the scene they found Sarah Cooper, 33, suffering from a single gunshot wound. She later died from her injuries at Wiregrass Medical Center in Geneva. Green fled the scene. WASHINGTON Heather Nauert, picked by President Donald Trump to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations but never officially nominated, has withdrawn from consideration, the State Department said. Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a department statement that "the past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration." Nauert's impending nomination had been considered a tough sell in the Senate, where she would have faced tough questions about her relative lack of foreign policy experience, according to congressional aides. A potential issue involving a nanny that she and her husband had employed may also have been a factor in her decision to withdraw, according to one aide. That issue, which was first reported by Bloomberg on Saturday, centered on a foreign nanny who was legally in the U.S. but did not have legal status to work, according to the aide, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The aide said some involved in the vetting process saw Nauert's inexperience and questions about her ability to represent the U.S. at the U.N. as a larger issue. Trump's initial U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, served for nearly all of the administration's first two years. She announced her resignation in October with plans to step down by year's end. That December, Trump said he would nominate Nauert, called her "very talented, very smart, very quick" and said he thought she would be "respected by all." In the wake of November elections that strengthened Republican control of the Senate, her confirmation appeared likely if not easy. Yet Trump never put Nauert's name forward with the Senate and no confirmation hearing was scheduled. The State Department in its statement that Trump would announce a nominee for the U.N position "soon." Nauert was a Fox News Channel reporter when she joined the State Department as spokeswoman almost two years ago during Rex Tillerson's tenure was secretary of state. She rose to the upper echelons of the department's hierarchy after Trump fired Tillerson in March 2018 and Mike Pompeo replaced him. In the department's statement, Pompeo said he respected Nauert's decision on the U.N. job and that she performed her duties as a senior member of his team "with unequalled excellence." "Serving in the Administration for the past two years has been one of the highest honors of my life and I will always be grateful to the President, the Secretary, and my colleagues at the State Department for their support," Nauert said in the statement provided by the department. Before coming to the State Department, Nauert was a breaking news anchor on Trump's favorite television show, "Fox & Friends." With a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, she had moved to Fox from ABC News, where she was a general assignment reporter. Nauert, who did not have a good relationship with Tillerson and had considered leaving the department, was appointed acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs after his departure. The appointment ended in October. --By Matthew Lee Mitch Hungerpiller thought he had a first-class solution for mail that gets returned as undeliverable, a common problem for businesses that send lots of letters. But the process he helped develop and built his small Alabama technology company around has resulted in a more than decadelong fight with the U.S. Postal Service, which says his solution shouldn't have been patentable. The David vs. Goliath dispute has now arrived at the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the justices will hear Hungerpiller's case, which involves parsing the meaning of a 2011 patent law. "All I want is a fair shake," said Hungerpiller, who lives in Birmingham and is a father of three. Hungerpiller, 56, started thinking seriously about returned mail in 1999 when he was doing computer consulting work. While visiting clients he kept seeing huge trays of returned mail. He read that every year, billions pieces of mail are returned as undeliverable, costing companies and the Postal Service time and money. So he decided to try to solve the problem. He developed a system that uses barcodes, scanning equipment and computer databases to process returned mail almost entirely automatically. His clients, from financial services companies to marketing companies, generally direct their returned mail to Hungerpiller's company, Return Mail Inc., for processing. Clients can get information about whether the mail was actually correctly addressed and whether there's a more current address. Hungerpiller says developing Return Mail's system took several years. As part of the process, the company applied for a patent. In 2004, right before Thanksgiving, Hungerpiller got a call with good news. The company would be issued U.S. Patent No. 6,826,548. "Oh I was so thankful. Best Thanksgiving of my life," he said, describing the phone call as "just a wow moment." To celebrate he bought decorative copies of the patent for company leaders. His copy, a plaque about the size of a piece of paper, hangs in his office next to a painting of his late father. Even early on, the Postal Service expressed interest in Return Mail's invention, Hungerpiller said. By 2006, the government and Return Mail were talking about licensing options and a formal pilot program. Partnering with the Postal Service, Hungerpiller said, would have "changed my life." But the Postal Service ultimately developed its own, similar system for processing returned and undeliverable mail, announcing its launch in 2006. "I was crushed. I got a dagger in my back," Hungerpiller said. And his business suffered. "Bottom line is that we had to lay off employees," Hungerpiller said, adding that it "suffocated the business." The Postal Service soon went further. It tried to get Return Mail's patent invalidated, but failed. Return Mail sued the Postal Service, arguing that the government should pay for using Return Mail's invention without permission. A spokesman for the Postal Service declined to comment on the case because it is ongoing. Just as Hungerpiller thought his company might be gaining the upper hand, the Postal Service switched tactics, successfully using a 2011 patent law overhaul law to invalidate Return Mail's patent. Now, at the Supreme Court, Return Mail's lawyers are arguing that the Postal Service can't use that law, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, to challenge Return Mail's patent. The law says that a "person who is not the owner of a patent," can file a patent challenge using the law. The Postal Service doesn't count as a "person," Return Mail's lawyers say. The government disagrees. The Supreme Court will decide who is right. Hungerpiller said he's pleased the Supreme Court wants to at least hear his case. He said what he has been through to get to this point hasn't made him lose faith in his government. Most days he wears an American flag pin, something he has done since 9/11. He calls himself a "proud American." This is just a process, he said. I honestly believe that one day Ill get justice. The victims of a disgruntled employee who opened fire at a suburban Chicago industrial warehouse were co-workers ranging from an intern to the plant manager. A look at the victims: TREVOR WEHNER The 21-year-old Northern Illinois University student was on his first day as an intern in human resources at Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora and attended the fateful meeting where the gunman was fired and then started shooting. Jay Wehner said his nephew grew up about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Aurora in Sheridan and was expected to graduate from Northern Illinois University in May with a degree in human resource management. He was on the dean's list at NIU's business college. "He always, always was happy," Jay Wehner said. "I have no bad words for him. He was a wonderful person. You can't say anything but nice things about him." RUSS BEYER Ted Beyer said his son had a "big heart" and tried his best to make his office a better place. He told the Chicago Sun-Times that's why the 20-year mold operator and union chairman sat in on Gary Martin's termination meeting Friday afternoon. Ted Beyer said his son had helped Martin win back his job months earlier. Russ Beyer was shot outside the meeting "He was a hard worker, just like I was," Ted Beyer, 71, said of his son. "I loved him ... We were close. He was my first kid." Russ Beyer had followed in the footsteps of his father, a previous union chairman who worked at Henry Pratt Co. for four decades. Ted and his 46-year-old son enjoyed camping, fishing and swimming together, usually at Taylorville Lake in central Illinois. They also shared one more connection: Ted Beyer had also previously vouched for Martin in grievance meetings with management. Beyer remembered Martin as a kind, caring man who brought him coffee and walked with him following back surgery. But, Beyer said, that doesn't take away the pain of losing Russ, the oldest of three children, who also had two adult children of his own. "Anybody who knew him knew he had a big heart," Ted Beyer said of his son. "I just recently lost my sister and now this and, you know, it hurts. It's just like somebody reached in there and took your heart out." CLAYTON PARKS The 32-year-old from Elgin, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Aurora, had just joined Henry Pratt in November 2018 as HR manager responsible for operations in Aurora, Illinois, Hammond, Indiana and Denver, the company said. He also was in the meeting where the gunman was being fired from his job. Parks was married and had an infant son Axel, according to a Facebook post by his wife Abby. "Every time I've closed my eyes over the last twelve hours, I've opened them hoping to wake from a terrible dream, but that's not the case," Abby posted. "I'm living my worst nightmare. My husband, my love, my best friend." Parks was a 2014 graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Business. VICENTE JUAREZ Neighbors remembered Vicente Juarez as a hard-working grandfather and rock of his tight-knit family. Juarez was shot outside the meeting where the gunman was being fired from his job. Juarez had been employed at Henry Pratt since 2006 and was a member of the shipping and warehouse team in Aurora. He had held several other jobs previously in the warehouse, the company said. The Chicago Tribune reported that Juarez lived with his wife, adult daughter and four grandchildren in a subdivision in Oswego, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of Aurora Relatives declined comment, saying they appreciate the support but are still dealing with the shock. Neighbor Julie Zigman called Juarez "the patriarch of the family" and said "everyone looked to him." Neighbor Joven Ang said anytime he was working outside Juarez asked him if he needed help. "That's the kind of person he was," Ang said. JOSH PINKARD A native of Alabama, Pinkard became plant manager at Henry Pratt in the spring of 2018. He was also in the meeting with the gunman. The company said Pinkard, 37, joined the parent company 13 years ago at its Albertville, Alabama facility. The father of three earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Mississippi State University and a master's degree from University of Arkansas, according to his LinkedIn account. He loved God, his family and Mississippi State sports, a cousin wrote in a text to the Chicago Tribune that he said was written on behalf of Pinkards wife, Terra. A rainbow flag fluttered in the air next to the American flag on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on Saturday as LGBTQ activists demanded that lawmakers expand the state's hate crime law to include sexuality and gender identity. The Vigil of Victims of Hate and Violence of Alabama has occurred every year in Montgomery since 39-year-old Billy Jack Gaither, a gay man, was beaten and then burned to death in Sylacauga on Feb. 12, 1999. Although Gaither's murder was 20 years ago, many speakers highlighted the vigil's timeliness. Dana Martin, a 31-year-old black transwoman from Hope Hull, was found dead in a car that had crashed in a ditch with a gunshot wound to her head in Montgomery in January. The National Center for Transgender Equality said Martin was the first transgender person to be killed in the nation in 2019. A moment of silence was held in Martin's honor during the beginning of the event. Daroneshia Duncan-Boyd, a black transwoman who founded Transgender Advocates Knowledgeable Empowering (TAKE), said President Donald Trump's rhetoric towards the LGBTQ community is to blame for the violence against the transgender community. "The messages that are delivered daily by that man is very toxic to the community and it sends a hate message," Duncan-Boyd said. "He doesn't want us in the military. He doesnt want us to have benefits. He doesnt want us to have anything." She said the change starts in their own communities and homes. She mentioned the LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances that were passed in Birmingham and Montevallo. Duncan Boyd questioned why Montgomery hasn't passed an ordinance that would make a crime to discriminate against a person based on their race, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity or disability. We may cannot change the stuff thats going on in D.C., but Im sure -- if all of us come together -- we can change whats going on in Alabama, Duncan-Boyd said. Daroneshia Duncan-Boyd speaks during the Vigil for Victims of Hate and Violence of Alabama. About 90 people attended the event at the Alabama State Capitol where activists called on lawmakers to create a LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime law. More than 90 people cheered and cried as speakers honored loved ones and transwomen of color during the vigil. Jose Vasquez, president of Montgomery Pride United, said it seemed fitting to have Duncan-Boyd be the keynote speaker for the event. He said she represented the transwomen of color who have been leading the LGBTQ movement since the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York but with little recognition. He wanted to make sure members of the LGBTQ community, especially black transgender people, felt loved following Martin's death "I believe the state of Alabama often times seems like -- and probably doesn't -- care about black lives [or] care about LGBTQ lives, especially transwomen of color," Vasquez said. "Today we are saying, 'We are still fighting.' That we care." Duncan-Boyd started tearing up as she accepted flowers and an award for her work with TAKE, which opened the first resource center for transwomen of color and will soon be sheltering homeless LGBTQ youth. While wearing a jacket given to her by transwoman activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, she said the transgender community is often forgotten about. Only 20 states and Washington, D.C. include sexual orientation and gender identity in their hate crime laws. Earlier this month, Tennessee became the first southern state to have a hate crime law that protects transgender people. Eleven states address hate crimes based on sexual orientation only. Alabama isn't in any of those categories. Alabamas 24-year-old hate crime law only includes crimes motivated by the victims actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability. Legislation has been proposed in the past to extend the law to include the LGBTQ community, but it wasnt passed. About 90 people attended an event at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery on Saturday where activists called on lawmakers to create a LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime law. Dana Martins death has not been identified as a hate crime. Montgomery police didnt release additional information about Martins death when contacted by Al.com on Friday. Capt. Regina Duckett said last month that police identified Martin as male due to legal documents. She also explained that a victims gender identity isnt relevant in the investigation unless it is the reason why the victim is killed. Montgomery Police Chief Ernest Finely Jr. wasn't scheduled to speak during the vigil, but was welcomed to the podium when he was spotted in the crowd of attendants. Finely stressed the importance of inclusion and wanted to make sure all members of the LGBTQ felt accepted and loved by the police department. "It's important that the police department, the city and law enforcement is for you. With you," Finley said. "As the slogan say, together we stand. We can really conquer the world, but it is with one bite at a time. One step at a time." Eric Samelo smiles as he receives the Stephen Light Youth Activism award during the Vigil for Victims of Violence and Hate in Alabama in Montgomery on Saturday. Samelo co-founded the frist LGBTQ at his school Loveless Academy Magnet Program High (LAMP). Vigil organizers didn't shy away from honoring those who are making a better future for the LGBTQ community. Lucia Hermo, Public Advocacy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, received the Billy Jack Gaither Humanitarian Award for her work with Montgomery Pride United. Eric Samelo, 15, received the Stephen Light Youth Activism award. He described the emotional labor and judgement he and a classmate faced as they established the first LGBTQ student organization at Metamorphosis at Loveless Academy Magnet Program High school (LAMP). During club day at his school he said he was frustrated because other students were giving them judgmental looks, mumbled comments under their breath and signed up other students for the club as a joke. But Samelo became emotional when he talked about a girl who told him the LGBTQ club was the only place she felt safe. I just want to make sure that they feel loved and safe and welcomed because everyone deserves that, Samelo said. The widow of an Alabama native killed in an Illinois workplace shooting on Friday has posted an account of learning about her husbands death, including a text message from him after he was wounded. Josh Pinkard was one of five people killed by a recently fired co-worker at a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois. I received a text at 1:24 from my precious husband that said I love you, Ive been shot at work, wrote Terra Pinkard, wife of Josh Pinkard. It took me several times reading it for it to hit me that it was for real. Gary Martin, 45, killed five Henry Pratt Company employees with a handgun and then shot five police officers as they swarmed the building. After a 90-minute standoff, police killed the shooter. I literally cant talk out loud about this lovely man without breaking down in sobs, Terra wrote. Im crying now as I write this. I want to shout from the rooftops about how amazing Josh was! He was brilliant! The smartest person Ive ever met! My best friend! Pinkard became plant manager at Henry Pratt in the spring of 2018. He was also in the meeting with the gunman. The company said Pinkard, 37, joined the parent company 13 years ago at its Albertville, Alabama facility. The father of three earned a bachelors degree in industrial engineering from Mississippi State University and a masters degree from University of Arkansas, according to his LinkedIn account. Heres the entire text of her message posted to Facebook today: You guys. I cant even begin to start saying thank you for the love that has been poured out on us. Friday afternoon, the day after Valentines Day, was a literal nightmare. I received a text at 1:24 from my precious husband that said I love you, Ive been shot at work. It took me several times reading it for it to hit me that it was for real. I called his phone several times, text, FaceTime, nothing. I called his plant and a lady answered and said she was barricaded in her room and police were everywhere. Of course my heart dropped. I grabbed my children and drove to his plant where I met a cop blocking off the roads. She couldnt tell me anything. I drove to the nearest hospital. He wasnt there. I drove to the second nearest hospital. Not there. While waiting there on news, chaplains, my pastor, neighbors, his coworkers came to sit with me and hold my hand. I waited for hours. I finally got in touch with the aurora pd who told me of a staging area for victims families. I dont know how my body drove itself there but it did. The police told us there were fatalities. He read my husbands name. I immediately left and went to get my kids. With my pastors help, since family was still on planes to get to us, I told my children their dad did not make it and is in heaven with Jesus. Ive never had to do something that hard. Yesterday was filled with police conferences and visiting a coroner. Every thought in my mind and everything I see reminds me of a precious memory of my husband. Ive been asked so many times by the media to talk about him. I literally cant talk out loud about this lovely man without breaking down in sobs. Im crying now as I write this. I want to shout from the rooftops about how amazing Josh was! He was brilliant! The smartest person Ive ever met! My best friend! The man I would have leaned on during devastation like this who would tell me its ok Terra, it is all going to be fine. The man who was dying and found the clarity of mind for just a second to send me one last text to let me know he would always love me. This unbelievable person was robbed from us. The next few days are going to be filled with decisions to make on how to say my final goodbyes to a man I always said I couldnt live without. But you guys have poured out your love on me. You have covered me, my children, our families with so much love and prayer. It is the only way we are doing it guys. Please continue to pray for my mother in law. This is her second child she will bury. Please pray for my sister in law. Josh was her twin brother. Please pray for my children. They are struggling because they miss a daddy who loved them so much. Please pray that somehow I can put that one foot in front of the other. And again thank you for all the kindness you have shown to us. SEYMOUR, Wis. About 40 percent of U.S. farmland is rented and more than one-third of that land is owned by women, according to the American REDDING, Calif. - The Red Cross has set up a shelter at the Shasta County Fairgrounds in Anderson for anyone affected by the recent snow storm. Red Cross volunteers say many of the people they are seeing are still without power and heat. Many are not staying overnight, but they are coming in to get out of the cold and get something to eat or hot coffee to stay warm. Red Cross volunteer Rose Nobili said Saturday, "We had probably about eight people spend the night last night." The power is coming back on," she said, "so people are leaving." "Currently, we only have two, and they're from Millville, that are staying here.," she elaborated. Volunteers from the Salvation Army were also on site Saturday serving breakfast and lunch to about 70 or 80 individuals who could not cook in their homes. The shelter will remain open on Saturday night for anyone who has need of it. They expect to close Sunday at noon unless needs change. ANDERSON, Calif. - Residents off of Happy Valley Road in the Anderson area have been without electricity since late Tuesday night due to snow and downed power lines. They have been working to clear what downed trees they can, but they say they are frustrated and just want a straight answer from PG&E as to when their power will be restored. Resident Kitty Lightfoot said, "I've had two times that they've said the power was going to be back on. Two days ago, it was six o'clock. Yesterday, it was 8 o'clock last night. And still no power." Another neighbor, David Anderson, complained as well. "They said Friday night. If you don't get power on by six, it could be up to Sunday." Anderson said his wife then heard that it could be Tuesday before their power will be restored. A representative from PG&E said there are currently about 481 people in that area without power and crews are out in full force working to clear trees and restore power. Officials from Redding's electric utility (REU) said they have restored 98 percent of the over 30,000 people who were without power. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... A handful of rural counties in New Mexico are passing resolutions saying they will not require their sheriffs to enforce a sweeping slate of gun control proposals that have gone before state lawmakers. The Second Amendment Sanctuary County resolutions are being presented by sheriffs to commissioners in dozens of counties, according to the head of the New Mexico Sheriffs Association. So far, commissioners in at least four counties situated in some of the most remote pockets of New Mexico have passed the resolutions in the past week, Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace said. He expects more county commissions to be presented with similar resolutions at their upcoming meetings, he said. The resolutions represent the sheriffs latest attempt at pushing back against legislation supported by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who took office in January, after the law enforcement officers expressed opposition to the bills for weeks in legislative committee hearings, arguing they are unconstitutional. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ The key thing to remember is this is all a burden on responsible gun owners, Mace said. Were here to protect peoples individual rights. The New Mexico proposals include a bill that would expand requirements for background checks on private gun sales. Another measure would allow courts to order people deemed threatening to temporarily surrender their guns to law enforcement. The background check initiative has cleared both chambers of the Democrat-led Legislature, and a Senate vote is pending on a bill that would make it easier to take guns from people deemed suicidal or bent on violence. The counties that declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries last week include Quay, Union and Curry counties in eastern New Mexico, and Socorro County, situated in the middle of the state. Mace said he expects commissioners will weigh the resolution this week in Cibola County, where he is sheriff. The county, dotted by small towns amid mountains, mesas and open desert, is on the western side of the state. The New Mexico sheriffs push for the resolutions is inspired by a similar effort in Washington state, Mace said. A dozen sheriffs there are refusing to enforce new restrictions on semi-automatic rifles until the courts decide whether they are constitutional, a move that prompted a warning from the states attorney general. The Washington law, which was approved by voters, raises the minimum age for buying semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, requires buyers to pass a firearms safety course, and expands background checks and gun storage requirements. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in an open letter to law enforcement last week that officers might be held responsible if they dont perform expanded background checks under the new laws and someone who should not have a weapon buys one and uses it in a crime. A spokesman for the attorney general in New Mexico did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the county resolutions in his state. In an email, Tripp Stelnicki, a spokesman for Lujan Grisham, said the commonsense firearm safety measures would not infringe on New Mexicans constitutional rights. These resolutions mark an expression of opinion, and thats fine, Stelnicki said. State law will be followed. In New Mexico, the gun control bills mirror measures that have become laws in several other states, following tragedies including shooting on Valentines Day, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. It was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, killing 14 students and three staff members. In New Mexico, a deadly shooting at Aztec High School in December 2017 and an episode on Thursday at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho in which police say a student fired a handgun in a hallway are fueling arguments for the legislation among Democratic lawmakers in Santa Fe. No one was harmed in the shooting at Cleveland High. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Editors Note: The Journal reached out to readers asking them to share their experiences and frustrations in trying to see a doctor, ranging from primary care to specialists. Here are some of their stories. Sharon Gross My PCP and seven specialists are in the UNMH system. My insurance is Medicare with AARP United Health Care supplement. I experience the shortage of providers with almost all my doctors. My cardiology appointment for February 2019 was rescheduled to July, and then to August. My gastroenterology appointment was rescheduled from summer 2018 to December 2018. In January of this year I had a hand condition for which rheumatology said I should be seen, but I could not get an appointment until March. Ralph Campbell I have used ABQ Health Partners, now DaVita Medical Group, for the past 16-plus years. I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, weight problems, high blood pressure, etc. The last time I went to see my sleep doctor (he had only been with DaVita for a short while) he told me he was retiring and that there was no one to take his place. I also went to see an endocrinologist and was referred to a nutrition specialist. When I called for an appointment, they told me the doctor was only accepting patients who have diabetes. So in order to see a nutritionist, I need to become diabetic. How ridiculous is that? ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ David Gutierrez I am a 64-year-old male, non-smoker, non-drinker, in reasonable shape, good health, and rarely see a doctor. I pay over $500 per month for a Bronze Plan purchased through the healthcare.gov marketplace. I think the price is outrageous, but a serious accident could mean financial ruin so I pay the premiums. About a month ago, I noticed blood in my stools. I was concerned, wanted a colonoscopy, and contacted two companies that provide that service. Both indicated I must secure a referral from my primary care physician, then they could schedule the procedure. OK, fair enough. I subsequently called my assigned primary care physicians office. I discovered he was a gynecologist who has not accepted new patients for a long time. I asked the office staff if they knew who might be accepting new patients. They suggested I contact my insurance provider, I reminded them my insurance provider printed their name and number on my insurance card. Next, I called a physicians office near my home, They were accepting new patients, not my insurance. I asked for recommendations. I called both recommendations, left voice mail messages and never received a return call. Frustrated, I called a physicians office that is a 30-minute drive. They were accepting both new patients and my insurance. Unfortunately, the earliest I could get an appointment is mid-February. I expressed my concern seeing blood in my stools. They suggested the emergency room. When that appointment date arrives, I will drive the 30 minutes to meet a physician to request a referral for a colonoscopy. Of course, I still have no idea when I will actually have the procedure, and I hope my insurance company will pay for it. My conclusions? The health care system in this city is broken from top to bottom. The part that works really well is the insurance companies taking our premiums. David Liggera I moved to Albuquerque in late October of 2018. About a week after I arrived, I found myself in the hospital (Lovelace Westside) with a GI bleed. I was scoped and the bleed clipped off. At discharge, I was given a number to call to be followed up in 10 days by a gastroenterologist. When I called, they told me there wasnt an opening until January of 2019. Even after I told them I had just been released from the hospital and needed a follow-up in 10 days, they said there were no available appointments with Lovelace or University of New Mexico until at least the end of January 2019. So I gave up. (Presbyterian is not an option since they do not take my insurance.) Why did they tell me to make a 10-day follow-up appointment when there was none available for three months? I then tried to make an appointment to establish a primary care physician and had to wait until January 25. Coming from the Washington, D.C., area where there doesnt seem to be a problem, this was a real eye-opener for me. I can understand now why emergency rooms and urgent care clinics can be so crowded. Julie Sena We moved to New Mexico last August. I began the process of finding a primary care physician. After calling a list (approximately 20) of potential names, I finally found a doctor accepting new patients. Great news! I made an appointment for new patients for my husband and me. The soonest they had was February 21 and 22, 2019, a six-month wait to get in. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal Editors note: Today the Journal kicks off a three-part series examining the severe lack of timely access to health care in New Mexico. Stories will be published today, Monday and next Sunday. On Feb. 5, all but three Presbyterian Medical Group primary care practices in Albuquerque were at capacity. The earliest appointments for the few providers available were three to four weeks away. As of last week, not a single primary care physician in one of the states largest group of medical providers was accepting new patients in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. During calls to Presbyterian schedulers, one suggested that prospective patients check with their insurance companies and find doctors elsewhere. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Meanwhile, urgent care centers in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho that traditionally serve walk-ins afflicted with minor illnesses and injuries were so booked, appointments were being scheduled for the next day. And new patients referred to medical specialists like neurologists, gastroenterologists and surgeons for potentially serious medical conditions reported waits of up to several months. With rural areas in a continuing crisis over the lack of health care providers, residents of New Mexicos largest metropolitan area are also feeling the strain of the national physician shortage and it hurts. Im so upset. I am so, so, so upset, said Judy Kaplan, a retired registered nurse who moved to New Mexico from California last fall. Though a recent workforce study found that New Mexico has added primary care providers in recent years, Kaplan has faced one hurdle after another in her quest to find a physician in Albuquerque. Last November, the earliest appointment she could get with a University of New Mexico primary care doctor was in March. Then she learned that appointment had been abruptly canceled and reset for June. Being in the health care system myself, that really hurt me, Kaplan told the Journal. She finally landed an April 9 primary care appointment with another medical group. But she wonders whether that, too, will be rescheduled. Whats really bad is what if Im sick before then, and here I am with no doctor. Dr. Jason Mitchell, senior vice president and chief medical and clinical transformation officer for Presbyterian Health Care Systems, said he understands that patients have expectations and are frustrated. But he said change is inevitable as New Mexico copes with the national physician shortage. He said Presbyterian is meeting demand by building three additional urgent care centers and providing more access through online tools. Theres no way we can recruit our way out of this, Mitchell said. We cant recruit enough doctors in New Mexico to meet (patient) expectations in the traditional sense. Theres not enough doctors in the United States, and theres not enough coming to New Mexico. We have to do things differently. NM 3rd worst in U.S. New Mexico was ranked 48th lowest of the 50 states for access to health care, considering 33 factors, including physicians per 100,000 population and percentage of those with insurance, according to a recent report by a national physician recruiter. I understand this is a hard conversation with people in New Mexico, said Kurt Mosley, vice president of strategic alliances at Merritt Hawkins, a national recruiter that also compiles heath care data. The forecast isnt encouraging. New Mexico in 2016 had the oldest physician population in the country. And the state ranked near the top in the number of physicians surveyed who said they planned to retire in the next few years. Moreover, New Mexico by 2030 is predicted to have the nations fourth-largest population of people age 65 or older as a percentage of the overall population, according to a 2016 state Legislative Finance Committee report. Over 10,000 baby boomers (nationwide) turn 65 every day, Merritt Hawkins said in a recent news release. And those in that age group see a physician at three to four times the rate of younger patients. Dr. Lance Wilson, chief medical officer of DaVita Medical Group, says people are living longer with chronic disease and they need more care. If you are somebody who is 75, you are seen an average 4 times a year, he said. DaVita, formerly Albuquerque Health Partners, is a 140-provider physician-led medical group that primarily offers primary care and outpatient services in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. Wilson said established family practice physicians are now seeing their patients get older. Theyre of a certain age, and their patients are of a certain age, and they (doctors) dont have time in their schedule to see kids and to see young healthy people, Wilson said. So its really shifted what primary care is these days. And as the population ages, more specialists are needed. Ten years ago, experts thought there would be a 50-50 mix of primary care physicians and specialists required in the future. Now projections tilt toward a greater need for specialists. Dr. Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, said the nation is facing a shortage of up to 121,000 physicians by 2030 72,000 specialists and 49,000 primary care providers. With demand increasing, the supply of new physicians educated in the U.S. isnt keeping up. Congress has frozen the primary federal funding for residencies required of MDs and osteopathic doctors at 1997 levels. Bills to lift the cap on residencies, which are traditionally funded through Medicare, have been proposed at least six times since 2007 and have failed every time. Earlier this month, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to increase funding to support an extra 3,000 residencies per year. Some states, including New Mexico, have used state funds to augment residency slots, but that can be expensive. A bill pending in the current state legislative session would create nine extra residency slots for $1.2 million annually. We have the best health care system in the world, but we have lousy access, Mosley said. We just dont have enough doctors. Appointment waits To deal with the long waits to see specialists, the Journal found some New Mexicans opted to find care out of state and have been seen within days. A cancer survivor who had unexplained bleeding last year tried to see numerous gynecologists in Albuquerque but couldnt get an appointment less than two months away. While in Southern California on business, she was seen within a week. An Albuquerque resident who needed lung cancer surgery and had weeks to wait before she could see a New Mexico specialist opted to go to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She got an appointment, underwent required tests and had the surgery by the time the appointment in New Mexico rolled around. Sharon Gross, of Albuquerque, said she was extremely frustrated at the months of delays to see a gastrointestinal doctor for a continuing digestive condition, so she opted to travel to the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora. There, she said she got an appointment with little difficulty. She also went to the Mayo Clinic, and her primary care medical team in New Mexico has helped coordinate care. On another health matter, Gross said she was told that if she developed certain symptoms, she should consult a rheumatologist in New Mexico right away. She made the appointment in January and cant get in until March. I dont want to alienate doctors here. I think they are trying as hard as they can, Gross said. But we need more providers. Kaplan moved from San Diego to New Mexico for its preservation of cultures, open spaces and museums. But she still has an internist in San Diego, and, as a backup, has made a March appointment to see her doctor there. But Kaplan said she doesnt believe its fair for people to have to leave Albuquerque and seek medical attention out of state. Thats quite a burden. Medicaid impact Average new patient physician appointment wait times for 15 large metro markets surveyed nationally in 2017 showed 30 percent longer average wait times than in 2014 an average 24.1 days, according to Merrick Hawkins. Appointment wait times are even longer in mid-sized metro markets, averaging nearly 33 days. Its safe to say you (in New Mexico) are equal to if not worse than most of those (metro) areas, said Merrick Hawkins Mosley. The highest average new patient wait times of any city surveyed was 52.4 days in Boston, Mass. Yet Massachusetts has more physicians per patient population than any state in the union, Mosley said. But an estimated 96 percent of people in Massachusetts are insured some way or another and thats why the wait times go up, when people have more access to it, Mosley said. Jerry Harrison, executive director of New Mexico Health Resources Inc., an Albuquerque-based nonprofit that recruits medical professionals, said he has heard for some time about long appointment wait times in New Mexico, including at oral health clinics in the state that have two-year waiting lists to get in. It (the problem) isnt new to me. Its just become more apparent, Harrison said. Orlowski of the Association of American Medical Colleges said access to health care nationally has improved with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, including the expansion of Medicaid. That has contributed to the increase in demand for health providers, but only modestly, she said. The real big increase is from the general population and the aging, Orlowski said. But back in New Mexico, Harrison said he believes that Medicaid expansion has really stressed the delivery system, particularly for working adults now being covered. An additional 250,000 people in the state became Medicaid members since the expansion, so that 40 percent of New Mexicans are now enrolled. Technology to the rescue Officials at DaVita Medical Group and Lovelace Health System, two leading Albuquerque-based employers of physicians, physicians assistants and nurse practitioners, say they have had success in ensuring timely access by instituting centralized scheduling of appointments. Presbyterian, with about 1,000 providers, offers video visits, online scheduling of appointments, messaging of providers, and a smart exam for about 20 diagnoses. During such exams, patients fill out a questionnaire online for review by a physician who in less than five minutes determines what should be done, including whether the patient needs to go to an ER or for more urgent treatment. Mitchell said Presbyterian just last year recruited some 293 new providers, a substantial number from out of state. Presbyterian officials say they dont break out specific wait times for new patient appointments. But their recent data shows the average wait time for a primary care appointment for new and established patients is five days. Creating more patient access through online tools helps free medical providers to see patients face to face, Mitchell said, and the website smart exam increases capacity exponentially. But Jorja Armijo Brasher, former director of the city of Albuquerques Senior Affairs Department, says some senior citizens cant adapt to the new technology. Some say its too hard, and they just forget about it. Then it (their medical condition) gets worse. Then theyre really vulnerable. You can talk online or get onto the computer, but to see an actual doctor is almost impossible anymore, she said. A lot of the elders were saying it takes us forever, by the time they give us an appointment, its so far away and my need is now. So, she said, they go to emergency rooms, or clinics, rather than doctors. And when they go to their doctor, she said, they often see an assistant. Still lagging A recent annual report from a University of New Mexico-led health care workforce group estimated that in 2017, New Mexico had a substantial increase in the number of primary care physicians 284 more doctors over 2016. The study showed an estimated 2,360 primary care physicians practicing in New Mexico. A large percentage of the new doctors located in just six counties, Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Dona Ana, Chaves and San Juan. Losses were reported in seven counties. And Valencia, Otero, Lea, Eddy, and Luna counties would still need 91 primary care physicians to achieve benchmark practitioner to population ratios, the report found. But reaching a national benchmark doesnt ensure health access, the report stated. Health systems factors such as wait times to see physicians, insurance restrictions, and the distribution of PCP specialties within a county may seriously hamper the populations access to care, the report stated. Harrison, who is a member of the workforce committee, cautioned that the report may overstate access because it doesnt differentiate between primary care providers who work in an outpatient setting, versus those who work as hospitalists. We have no real way to sort those people out from those who are really taking appointments and seeing patients, he told the Journal. Harrison said he believes access issues are prompting the opening of more urgent care clinics, and combination urgent care/emergency centers in the Albuquerque area and elsewhere. And now patients are making appointments for such care. Thats a sign to me that people are not being able to get the urgent care they need to have without waiting for long periods of time. Another wait list Kaplan, the 73-year-old retired nurse who moved here from San Diego, said she hoped to find a primary care doctor who specialized in geriatrics, so she called the University of New Mexico Senior Health Center in Albuquerque. Last week, the center wasnt accepting new patients and had a waiting list of about 70 people. Only those 75 and older are eligible. I figure maybe Ill get on the list now, Kaplan said. Maybe by the time I reach 75, Ill get an appointment. Coming Monday: Rural New Mexico struggles to find doctors one towns tale. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... When the Washington Post paid up to $10 million to run a Super Bowl ad, many argued against the morality or propriety of spending that much money on advertising rather than on reporters salaries, paid leave and medical benefits, but social media was not atwitter with an argument against the Posts powerful tagline, Democracy Dies in Darkness. You know when else democracy dies? When the charges for people exercising their rights, or the hoops one has to jump through to obtain public information, become too high or too onerous! Democracy dies when restrictions are placed upon the information the public can receive about the actions of its public institutions and public officials when the sunshine long advocated for is diminished or blocked to accommodate special interests or government officials, not the public. A 2016 Seattle Times editorial, noting a report from the state of Washingtons Auditors Office that state and local governments spent $60 million to fill more than 285,000 public records requests during a 12-month period, argued that the report should not be used to shut down public access to government records. Rather, the editorial board noted, the state of Washington should be celebrating this important way of helping citizens keep track of their governments. The board suggested one way to cut costs of responding to record requests is to post more information online automatically to disclose information before it is asked for and organize records for easy search and retrieval. No similar report could be found on costs to N.M.s state and local governments. Public records requests costs are surely justifiable expenditures of public money this is the fair cost of democracy and liberty, opined former New Mexico Supreme Court chief justice and New Mexico Ethics Watch Board Chair Richard Bosson. The Albuquerque Journals Feb. 3 editorial highlighted proposed legislation that would chip away at transparency and the publics right to know. As these bills are heard in committee and on the floor, there will be persuasive arguments made for the restriction of information and for increasing the costs of obtaining information. The bottom-line inquiry: Are we willing to trade away our right to the transparency that is essential to democracy, that allows us to keep track of government action, because it costs too much? Are we going to allow New Mexicos democracy to die or even languish in darkness? ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Take a look at the legislation highlighted in the Journals editorial, whether it be providing the government the right to charge market rate for public information, allowing public officials to question those making IPRA requests about why they are requesting records, or making government executive position applicant pools secret except for three finalists. Ask yourself, and legislators, Does this proposal benefit the public? If not the public, whom does it benefit? Is this decreased access to information currently provided to the public worth us losing the ability to find out about government actions? As ethics commission enabling legislation is introduced, we will be needing to ask the same questions about transparency tradeoffs and whether the public/you, who approved of the commission overwhelmingly, is going to benefit from the commissions roles and processes as much as you would like. N.M. Ethics Watch participated in the drafting process of enabling legislation during the interim as a member of the Ethics Commission Working Group. That group did not even try to reach consensus on transparency issues, due to strong and differing opinions amongst the legislators involved. NMEW urges legislators and the public to come down on the side of transparency on all proposed legislation. Democracy is sometimes untidy. Democracy is sometimes costly. Are you willing to live in darkness? Thats where democracy dies. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... WASHINGTON For some, the 2017 tax overhaul has been a bust and not necessarily because it increased their taxable income. Some early tax-return filers this year are fuming about smaller refunds than theyd grown accustomed to. Their rage sheds light on one of the problems with the tax code Americans passionate love affair with their tax refunds. But its not entirely your fault if youre infatuated with getting a refund. The system is biased in favor of you paying too much tax. As a wage earner, youre required to pay federal income tax by having it withheld from your pay throughout the year. This is your tax withholding, which is based on the number of allowances you claim on your W-4. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Youre in an overwithholding situation if too much tax is withheld, resulting in a refund. But the instructions on how many allowances to claim for tax credits are geared toward overwithholding, according to a report last year from the Government Accountability Office. About three-quarters of wage-earning taxpayers have too much withheld from their paycheck, the GAO said. For you to neither owe the government nor get a refund, your total withholding allowances have to match the tax deductions and credits reported on your federal return. With the right withholding, you can get close enough to breaking even with a small refund or tiny tax bill. Behavioral economists look at the mental accounting people do when faced with a choice of receiving money incrementally or in one large chunk. Turns out that, psychologically, most people prefer the lump sum. Americans want tax refunds because getting money on April 15 feels like a bonus, Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler write in their book Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter. When money is received monthly in relatively smaller amounts, it can be harder to save, because there are more immediate needs. This is a case where its good to know yourself, one reader explained. I am much better at saving a big windfall than I am at saving every month. Sure, in a perfect world, Id figure out how to be a better monthly saver, but Im not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. However, lets say youre carrying credit card debt. Rationally, any extra money in your paycheck could be used to reduce the debt throughout the year, so you would pay less interest. Ironically, polls show that consumers anxiously await their tax refund just so they can pay down debt. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll last year focused on the potential impact of the 2017 tax law on individuals. People were asked: If you receive a tax refund as a result of this tax plan, what will you do with that tax refund? Will you save or invest it, pay off a bill or debt, or spend it on something you have put off? Thirty-six percent of respondents said they would save or invest the money, and 44 percent said they would pay off a bill or debt. When I ask people why they love getting a refund, many say theyre terrified of getting a big tax bill. Thats not an unreasonable response, considering we know that the vast majority of employees live paycheck to paycheck. OK, but what if you could be reasonably assured you wouldnt owe the IRS or, if you did, youd have to pay a small amount? Gallup and USA Today asked this in a 2007 poll that is clearly still relevant: Which would you prefer to happen when you file your annual income taxes with the IRS each year get a refund because you paid more in taxes than you owed during the year, or basically break even because you paid about what you owed in taxes during the year? Forty-five percent of survey respondents said they want the refund. Heres my concern. Overwithholding comes with a cost. If you dont have savings throughout the year which you might if you had less money withheld from your paycheck and youre faced with a financial emergency, you could end up increasing your credit card debt. Overwithholding is not good for low-income workers who struggle with having enough cash every month. Some end up paying their bills late, negatively impacting their credit rating. Or they get trapped in a cycle of expensive payday loans to make ends meet. They could benefit more from larger regular paychecks than from larger annual tax refunds, the GAO concluded. For many people, the allure of getting a tax refund is clearly so big that they easily overlook its true cost. When you overwithhold from your paycheck, youre essentially just giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan. And for that, you gain nothing. Email: michelle.singletary@washpost.com 2019, Washington Post Writers Group. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Sharon Bottoms Mattes, a central figure in a prolonged court battle in the 1990s who lost custody of her son to her mother after Virginia courts ruled that she was an unfit parent because she was involved in a same-sex relationship, died Jan. 21 at her home in Richlands, North Carolina. She was 48. Her family placed a death notice that was published in January in the Jacksonville (North Carolina) Daily News. According to Facebook posts by members of her family, the cause of death was cancer. Efforts to reach members of her family were unsuccessful. In 1991, Mattes, then known as Sharon Bottoms, gave birth to a son, Tyler Doustou. By then, she was already divorced from the boys father, who was not involved in raising the child. About a year later, Mattes and April Wade, a food-service worker, formed a household together near Richmond. Mattes mother, Kay Bottoms, later sought to gain custody of Tyler. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ The bitter court battle pitting mother against daughter and involving intimate and embarrassing details of their lives played out in courtrooms for three years before it was ultimately decided by the Virginia Supreme Court. The case was watched closely, as gay and lesbian activists sought to extend their parental rights. It was watched just as closely by conservative religious groups, who viewed it as another step in the gradual degradation and deconstruction of American society, as Walter Barbee, president of the Family Foundation, put it. The Virginia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union handled much of Mattes legal defense. After a juvenile court judge ruled in favor of Kay Bottoms demand for custody, the case heard before Circuit Court Judge Buford Parsons Jr. As the case developed, Mattes said her mothers live-in boyfriend had subjected her to repeated sexual attacks, beginning when she was 12. Her mother said she was not aware of any sexual abuse. After dropping out of high school, Mattes held a series of part-time jobs, mostly as a store clerk, and had a short-lived marriage. Her former husband, Dennis Doustou, testified in support of Mattes. Under questioning, Mattes admitted that she and Wade occasionally kissed in Tylers presence and, in private, engaged in oral sex. At the time, oral sex was considered sodomy in Virginia and was classified as a felony, whether performed by straight couples, same-sex couples or anyone else. It was not decriminalized until 2014. Parsons upheld the juvenile courts decision, awarding custody of Tyler to Kay Bottoms, declaring in his decision that Mattes conduct is illegal and immoral and renders her an unfit parent. Mattes was allowed to see her 2-year-old son from Monday morning to Tuesday night but only if she did not take him to the home she shared with Wade, who had no visitation rights. Its the kind of case that strikes terror in peoples hearts, Liz Hendrickson, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said at the time. It makes them wonder, Could this happen to me? Because she could not afford a hotel room, Mattes met her son at a friends house. We hang out, go to the park. Lots of things, she said. She did interviews with People magazine, Larry King Live and Geraldo. Her mother, who lived in a mobile home in Spotsylvania County, went on Sally Jessy Raphaels television show and said her daughter was doing drugs, she partied, she wanted to have a good time . . . I have threatened her many times I was going to take him. In a 1993 interview with The Washington Post, Mattes said her son would fall to sleep only if she put his head on her stomach. I cried the first time he did it, she said. Do you think he knows its where he came from? In 1994, a Virginia Court of Appeals panel ruled unanimously that Mattes should have primary custody of her son. Im not a hero, she said at the time. Im just a mother trying to get her son back. Her legal victory was short-lived. Lawyers for her mother filed an appeal, during which the custody arrangement remained unchanged. During later court hearings, the original juvenile court judge, William Boice, criticized Mattes and Wade for cooperating with the producers of a TV movie, Two Mothers for Zachary, which ultimately aired in 1996. Mattes lawyer said she was not paid for the film. In 1995, the case of Bottoms v. Bottoms reached the Virginia Supreme Court. In a 4-to-3 decision, the court determined that the moral climate in Mattes home made her an unfit custodian at this time. Her mother was granted permanent custody of Tyler. Living daily under conditions stemming from active lesbianism practiced in the home, Justice Christian Compton wrote, may impose a burden upon a child by reason of the social condemnation attached to such an arrangement. Conservative groups hailed the decision as a victory for traditional moral values. Gay rights groups were outraged. Not that long ago, there were courts that ruled that being lesbian, gay or bisexual meant you couldnt be a parent to your own children, James Esseks, an ACLU lawyer overseeing gay rights cases, said Saturday in an interview. It is shocking to people today. In 1996, Mattes abandoned her legal fight. She gave no more interviews for the rest of her life. Sharon Lynne Bottoms was born Feb. 20, 1970. Little is known of her early years in Virginia or what happened after her court battle ended in 1996. According to Facebook posts, she married Bill Mattes in 2012. She was the co-owner of a kennel in North Carolina. Her son, now 27, served in the military and lives in Virginia. He posted a tribute to his mother on Facebook. In addition to her husband and son, survivors include her mother; her husbands three children; a brother; and a grandson. We dont regret this fight, but we feel its something we shouldnt have to go through, Mattes told the New York Times in 1995, in one of her final public statements. I deserve my baby. I gave birth to him. I want him. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal Sophia Lussiez finally feels heard. Almost a year ago, when students gathered outside the state Capitol for the March for Our Lives demonstration after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., Lussiez and other teens gave speeches pushing for gun control measures in New Mexico. Their rally was important, she said last week, but at that point, to lawmakers who work inside the building, they were just anonymous kids with microphones. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Now they have to look at us and listen to us, and Im directly speaking to them instead of yelling outside their office, the 17-year-old senior from Desert Academy said after speaking at a House committee hearing on Tuesday. She and several other local teens have teamed up with New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence to push for a bill intended to help prevent children getting access to firearms. The group has also been to the Roundhouse to testify in support of other gun control measures. Their bill, which proposes adding firearm-securing standards to the states Childrens Code, passed Tuesday through the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee in a 3-2 vote, clearing an initial hurdle toward a floor vote. Miranda Viscoli, co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, said this is the first time her organization has worked with young people to push for specific legislation. She called their activism a game-changer. They havent given up, Viscoli said. They show up and they get it done. Back in August, Lussiez and fellow student Julia Mazal spoke to the Journal about working with Viscolis group and Rep. Linda Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, on a child access prevention bill to help curb school shootings, accidental injuries and suicides. New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence unsuccessfully tried to pass a similar bill in 2015. With Mazal now away at boarding school, Lussiez said she has tapped friends and co-leaders of Santa Fes Student Advocacy Union for support. During Tuesdays committee meeting, 17-year-old New Mexico School for the Arts senior Maki Omori was another witness. Hannah Laga Abram, 18, a senior at the Santa Fe Waldorf School, testified from the audience. Its just such an important issue, it wasnt ever a question of do I want to work on this, Laga Abram said before the committee meeting. Its not really a thing you have a choice in; its an opportunity you have. Lussiez said she didnt know much about the legislative process before this years session. She said she has been surprised at how many steps it takes for bills to pass, particularly the number of committees they must get through. Both Lussiez and Omori said they werent expecting the level of opposition that gun control bills have attracted, noting lines of speakers out the door to speak on behalf of the other side. I go to a really liberal school. Im constantly feeling support from the adults and people around me, said Omori. And coming here, theres a lot of people who directly disagree with us and say things I really dont believe in. Theres so many more of them and theres are so few of us. That was surprising, not really disheartening though. It was a reality check. House Republicans this week put out a news release calling the bill the teens support part of a continuing effort by Democrats to penalize law-abiding gun owners. A reasonable standard The bill that the five-member House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee voted on Tuesday was a substitute for House Bill 130 as originally filed by Trujillo. The substitute proposes an amendment to the New Mexico Childrens Codes definition of a neglected child to include anyone whose parent, custodian or guardian leaves a firearm, loaded or unloaded, somewhere they know or should have known the child could have unsupervised access to the gun, unless the parent, guardian or custodian takes reasonable action to secure the firearm against access by the child. Securing a firearm is defined as steps that a reasonable person would take, including but not limited to keeping the gun in a locked container or with a trigger lock. The original bill tiered criminal penalties and civil liability for gun owners who fail to properly secure a firearm. Exceptions were outlined for supervised minors using the firearm for hunting or sport, self defense, or if the property where the gun was stored was entered unlawfully by the child. Trujillo told the Journal she changed the bill after feedback from the Attorney Generals Office that said the original HB 130 could have overlapped with existing criminal statutes against child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which have higher penalties. If the substitute passes, reports that a child is in danger due to an improperly secured firearm would be referred to the state Children, Youth and Families Department. If the claim is substantiated, according to Trujillo, CYFD could then help the family initiate a safety plan to make sure any firearms are reasonably secure. Trujillo told the committee it would be highly unlikely for CYFD to take any further enforcement action beyond that. The only potential charge that comes from violating the Childrens Code is a petty misdemeanor for interfering with the protection of a child. It really just sets out a standard that we expect parents to live up to and gives CYFD the ability to work with the family, come up with a reasonable solution so that your child is not going to hurt somebody or themselves, Trujillo said of the substitute bill. During their statements to the committee, Lussiez and Omori cited statistics from studies conducted over the past two decades indicating that unsecured firearms play a role in child suicides, accidental deaths and school shootings. Lussiez also cited a figure, which Viscoli compiled from New Mexico Department of Public Health statistics, that 110 people ages 1-18 died in the state from firearms in 2012-17. Im asking you because there are friends who are missing from me because a firearm was too easy to access because theres no standard or punishment for negligent storage, Omori said in her testimony. It was too easy for them in a moment of weakness or an impulse to kill themselves or to harm others. Its too easy for people and children in New Mexico to accidentally or on purpose harm themselves or others. She said outside the committee that shed lost a friend whod gained access to a household gun. We cannot legislate evil This isnt about taking away peoples guns, Lussiez also told the committee. This isnt about infringing on peoples rights. Its about being the responsible gun owner we hear so much about. Its about keeping our students safe. Its about making New Mexico a state where I can feel safe and want to raise kids. Several people spoke in opposition to the bill, including Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace, who serves on the board of the New Mexico Sheriffs Association. He said there are already laws to prevent child abuse and minors from possessing handguns, with certain exceptions. Mace said enforcement would be difficult. He referred to a container that another opponent of the legislation showed to the committee and which was easy to pry open, despite its lock. Mace also noted that New Mexico does not have a firearm registry to match guns to owners. We cannot legislate evil out of peoples minds, said Mace. No matter what we do, theyre still going to gain access, theyre still going to try to commit that crime. Republican Reps. Candy Spence Ezzell of Roswell and Gregg Schmedes of Tijeras wanted to table the bill until the committee got updated responses on the substitute measure from such agencies as CYFD and the Attorney Generals office. Ezzell said the bill would criminalize parents. She and Schmedes also took issue with the use of the word reasonable to describe measures an adult would be required take to secure a weapon, noting cultural differences between New Mexicos urban and rural areas. The different scenarios of how different people live, and how people raise their family and secure their home should be respected, Schmedes said. I think this law leaves it too open-ended (in terms of) whats reasonable for some and unreasonable for others. The teens were commended by both critics and supporters of the bill for their participation in the hearing. Following the committees vote Ezzell and Schmedes were outvoted by three Democrats they said theyll be back for an upcoming Judiciary Committee meeting. Though Omori, Lussiez and Laga Abram noted frustration with the legislative process Omori felt lawmakers criticism of the bill came from an emotional, not a factual place, and Lussiez said it was difficult to remain silent at times they described their firsthand experience as inspiring. I see the waves, just the three of us, have made in our community, Omori. And were not doing anything official yet, but I dont know, its made me hopeful in some ways because at least theres a little crack in the door and we can nudge our way through and make things better. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal Legislation is in the works to change New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe from a state charter school to a special statewide residential public high school. Sen. Bill ONeill, D-Albuquerque, introduced the bill. He said it came at the request of NMSA, which has operated as a state charter school since it opened in 2010. They feel strongly that this direction would help them achieve their mission to provide arts education to students across New Mexico, said ONeill, who serves on the governing board of Albuquerques Mission Achievement and Success Charter School. And as someone close to the charter school community, it just seems like a better fit. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ ONeill is also a published poet, having last year released The Freedom of the Ignored, a collection of 46 poems. So Im an artist myself, and their mission is dear to me, he said, adding that he likes to attend the end-of-year performance held at the Lensic Performing Acts Center in Santa Fe where NMSA students showcase their talents. Its an amazing display of talent, he said. New Mexico has such an amazing cultural tradition, and I am really enthusiastic and impressed with the School for the Arts. Rep. Linda Trujillo, a former school board member with Santa Fe Public Schools, is a co-sponsor, though she did not introduce a duplicate bill in the House, saying she tries to avoid doing so because its not a good use of legislative time. Senate Bill 315, as it is called, has been assigned to the Senate Rules Committee and ONeill said that he expects that committee to take it up later this week. It is also scheduled to be heard by the Senate Education and Finance committees. A visible presence The legislation would make the school a special public high school and provide it with the same powers as a school district, minus taxing or bonding authority. ONeill said the new designation would put it on a par with other statewide public schools, like the New Mexico School for the Deaf and the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The school would have a superintendent, as opposed to a principal or head learner, and be subject to the Public Schools Code rather than the state Charter School Act. It would receive funding through the State Equalization Guarantee formula, like other public schools. NMSA is already allocated funding through the SEG formula, but is required to give 2 percent back to the state, according to Paula Tackett, secretary of NMSAs governing council. So we will be able to keep that, instead of having it taken away, she said. NMSA gets about $2 million from the state now, meaning it will save about $40,000 per year as a special public high school. The other thing the bill would do is create a nine-member school board with the authority of a board of finance. As currently written, the bill states that all nine members of the NMSA school board would be appointed by the governor, but both ONeill and Tackett said that will likely be modified to allow the governor to appoint five members to the board and for the Public Education Commission to pick four others. Tackett said members of the governing council currently serve three-year terms. When there is a vacancy, members of the council choose a replacement. She said the composition of the school board is one of the reasons for the proposed change. NMSAs current governing council is made up of five people, all of whom are either from the Santa Fe or Albuquerque area, she said. Our feeling is that because of our statewide mandate, having board members from all over the state would help us to better reach our mission, Tackett said. Half the people out there think were a private school, so having a school board with representatives from across the state would help us with outreach by giving us a more visible presence throughout the state. The legislation that created NMSA called for a statewide residential state-chartered high school that provides New Mexico students who have demonstrated artistic abilities and potential with the educational opportunity to pursue a career in the arts. The act states that to the greatest extent possible an equal number of students are to be admitted from each of the states three congressional districts. But the goal of geographical diversity for the school hasnt been met to this point. This year, just seven of the schools 211 students hail from District 2, which covers the southern half of the state. Fifteen are from District 1, which includes Albuquerque and all of Torrance County. The vast majority 189 students are from District 3, the northern part of the state, and 149 of them reside in Santa Fe County. Tackett said the lack of available housing is one big reason more students from outside Santa Fe County dont attend the school. But the school has designs to build a dormitory that could accommodate as many as 100 students at a new location. More space, more students NMSA is planning to move from the former St. Francis Cathedral School in downtown Santa Fe where it has been since it opened in 2010 to a new location in the Railyard district not far away by August. That will allow for enrollment to increase to 300 students initially and eventually grow to 400. As it is, theres barely room for the more than 200 students, who often have to move their art projects or rehearse in school hallways and stairwells. The new location at the former Sanbusco shopping center will provide about 88,000 square feet of space, or about three times more than at the old St. Francis Cathedral School. The school purchased the Sanbusco Center property in 2015 for $7.3 million and broke ground a year ago. School officials say the location near the Santa Fe Rail Runner Express commuter train stop will make the school more accessible to students living along the train route, which runs from Santa Fe to Belen. When first created by an act of the Legislature in 2008, NMSA was given $525,000 by the state for startup costs with the understanding that it wouldnt come back for more. The $30 million that was raised for the purchase and renovation of the Sanbusco Center came almost entirely from private capital, according to the school. To gain admission to NMSA, students must audition or submit portfolios. Because of the small space, the school turns away about 100 applicants per year. NMSA students are generally high-performing students. The school has received straight As from the state Public Education Department since the department starting assigning letter grades to schools statewide as a measure of performance seven years ago. Its graduation rate in 2017 was 96 percent, compared to the statewide average of 71 percent. In 2016, NMSA was named a National Blue Ribbon School. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. New Mexico State Police say a man who stole a bait car in Albuquerque Friday night told officers it was given to him as a gift years before. Robert Hoelscher, 32, was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on a charge of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle. According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, State Police watched Hoelscher get into a bait car around 8 p.m. near Central and Utah. State Police say they stopped the bait car a few blocks away and arrested Hoelscher. Hoelscher told officers the bait car was a gift and he had owned it for a few years. He could not name any persons who gave him the vehicle as a gift, an officer wrote. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... When newly elected Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham set out on the campaign trail, one of her promises to the citizens of New Mexico was to begin to hold the oil and gas industry across the state accountable for its contributions to air pollution and climate change. Less than a month into her administration and the governor has followed through on this ambitious campaign promise. Through a bold initiative, Lujan Grisham is calling for a 45 percent reduction in greenhouse gas pollution in New Mexico by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels. With this executive order, the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and the Environment Department will develop strategies focused on reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations. This is vitally important given that more methane is wasted through venting, flaring and leakage on federal and tribal lands in New Mexico than in any other state. In 2018, New Mexico saw worsening air quality, partly from oil and gas development in the Permian Basin. On the other end of the state, the largest cloud of toxic methane in the U.S. has been documented over the Four Corners area. This directive comes as the Trump Administration aggressively rolls back clean air rules and emission standards throughout the country. Gov. Lujan Grishams executive order is an opportunity to reduce waste of a critical resource while improving air quality within the state, despite attacks coming from Washington, D.C. The National Parks Conservation Association applauds this effort to place the interests of New Mexico citizens above those of the oil and gas industry. Recent estimates suggest that taxpayers in New Mexico lose as much as $27 million annually through wasted gas, funds that could be used for other critical needs in our state. In addition, vulnerable Navajo communities, and others living in oil and gas areas bear the brunt of serious health risks and other impacts. And this methane negatively affects visitor experiences at some of our most cherished national parks, such as Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument, where they might encounter hazy views and the loss of dark night skies caused by light pollution from nearby methane flaring. As New Mexico officials craft their plans to protect people and our public lands, some lessons can be taken from recent actions in Colorado and California. The advanced rules in both of these states require oil and gas companies to more frequently inspect and repair infrastructure associated with production and transmission. In the case of Colorado, the state requires certain equipment to be inspected at least once every two weeks. Industry is then required to repair any methane leaks discovered during inspections within 30 days, significantly reducing the amount of fugitive emissions escaping into the atmosphere. A recent state-sanctioned report found that 98.4 percent of all detected leaks were fixed within the allotted time frame. A third-party survey indicated seven out of 10 oil and gas producers in Colorado found that the benefits of increased inspections outweighed the costs. Similar rules are appearing in other states, including Pennsylvania and, most recently, Wyoming. With the path to reducing pollution already paved, similar initiatives would be a relatively straightforward task here in New Mexico. As an effective way of managing methane and other emissions in our state, new regulations should require frequent monitoring of oil and gas infrastructure, along with a 30-day window to repair discovered leaks. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Now is our chance to be a national leader in protecting the air for our communities, and those who visit our national parks and other public lands we can be at the top of the list for a change, rather than the bottom. We support Governor Lujan Grisham and her administration as they develop a strong and enforceable plan for the state. Ernie Atencio, of Arroyo Hondo, is a native New Mexican and the New Mexico senior program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... In 2017, New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence (NMPGV) worked on legislation that would have required domestic violence offenders under protective orders to relinquish their firearms while under the order. While the resistance was formidable, a watered-down bill was eventually passed through the House and Senate, but was vetoed by then-Governor Martinez. This year, NMPGV is working to pass HB 87, which is a much stronger version of the previous legislation. Every 16 hours in the United States, a woman is shot and killed by her intimate partner. Close to half of all intimate partner homicides are committed with a firearm. The chance of being murdered by an abusive partner is five times greater if there is a gun in the home. In New Mexico, men murder women at the third-highest rate in the country. Unlike most states, New Mexico does not prohibit people who are subject to domestic violence protection orders from purchasing or possessing firearms. This dangerous loophole needs to be closed and that is exactly what HB 87 does. Passing HB 87 is a crucial step in safeguarding women from intimate partner homicide with a firearm. It will also help keep our children safe, as they are often killed in these domestic violence incidents or witnesses to their mothers murder. Yet another startling fact in New Mexico is that more than one out of every three children is present during an incident of domestic violence in New Mexico. When the incident involves a firearm, it is particularly tragic, as was the case in a mass shooting in November near Gallup. The boyfriend killed three others, himself and critically wounded the boys mother. It was the boy who called 911. HB 87 is modeled on the federal domestic violence firearm replenishment law. We need HB 87 because New Mexico judges and local law enforcement officers are unable to remove guns that violate federal law. Only federal agents and ATF officers have this authority. I personally know one young mother who has been forced to move seven times because her ex-husband threatened to shoot her and her children. He is now under a protective order, but she has no idea if he still has his guns. Calls to federal agents and the ATF have not been returned. We know that this law works. Research shows that restricting abusers access to firearms is an effective policy, reducing domestic violence homicides by as much as 25 percent. In addition, studies show that would-be killers do not replace guns with other weapons to effect the same number of killings. By passing HB 87, New Mexico would join 27 other states that have already passed similar legislation. The excuses for not passing HB 87 have been offensive to women in New Mexico. One legislator said we need to focus on porn and our weak abortion laws if we really want to get serious about protecting women. Another bemoaned the fact that, oftentimes, women claim domestic abuse when in fact they are just angry at their partners. Second Amendment gun enthusiasts came out in droves for the first committee hearing to argue that getting guns out of the hands of domestic violence offenders goes against their rights. Why we are defending the gun rights of domestic abusers over the safety of those being abused in New Mexico is perplexing, tragic and unconscionable. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Please call your elected officials and ask them to pass this bill into law. Miranda Viscoli is co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, a statewide nonprofit working on the prevention of gun violence in New Mexico. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A Lea County judge sentenced a man to 10 years in prison Thursday afternoon for running a stop sign in Lovington and causing a crash that left two newlyweds dead nearly three years ago. A jury in December found Oscar Martinez-Zamora, 22, guilty on two counts of vehicular homicide, child abuse and failure to yield at a stop sign in the deaths of 25-year-old Joseph and 20-year-old Tymplaire Wier. State District Judge William Shoobridge imposed the sentence Thursday, the Lovington Police Department said in a news release. On April 23, 2016, police say Martinez-Zamora blew through a stop sign, at Industrial and Avenue D, going nearly 60 mph and crashed into the Wiers vehicle. Martinez-Zamora claimed his brakes failed at the time but Lovington police detectives proved they were operational even after the severe crash, police said. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Mabel Dodge Luhan was ahead of her time. For decades, the arts patron fought for womens, artists and Native Americans rights. For nearly a decade, Mark Gordon has worked on a feature film telling the story of Dodge Luhans life. And Awakening in Taos: The Mabel Dodge Luhan Story is getting a premiere at the KiMo Theatre today. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ KNME will present a free screening at 2 p.m. After the screening, Gordon will participate in a Q&A. At 7 p.m., the film will have its Albuquerque premiere, with the producers, cast and crew at the KiMo in celebration of New Mexico PBS. The PBS broadcast will air at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, on NMPBS. Its been quite a journey to get this done, Gordon says. Were planning on having national distribution with the film. Dodge Luhan was born to a wealthy family in Buffalo, N.Y., at the height of the Victorian era. As a child and young woman, she experienced little warmth and no sense of meaning within the confining social conventions of the age. The role of women was passive and secondary in a world ruled by men. Literally tricked into her first marriage, she became a widowed mother when her husband died in a hunting accident. She was confused and depressed, so her mother sent her to Europe, the customary cure for emotional distress among the Victorian upper class. In Paris, she met architect Edwin Dodge, who became her second husband, and in her quest to experience aliveness, she acquired a villa in Florence, Italy, and soon launched a salon. She met Gertrude Stein and hosted many now-famous modern artists, musicians and poets on the cutting edge of social change in pre-World War I Europe. She was friendly with all of the modern artists that we now recognize as great, Gordon says. They were unknown when Mabel met them. She had this way of intersecting with history. She called herself a collector of heads heads of state, heads of social activism and heads of art movements. In 1917, she moved from New York Citys Greenwich Village to Taos and discovered the home she had been seeking magical, untouched, luminous. She fell in love with and married Antonio Tony Lujan, a full-blooded Tiwa Indian from Taos Pueblo, in a time when this was revolutionary. Inspired by the Native culture and distinctive landscape, she invited many well-known artists, writers and social activists to Taos, forever shaping the character of the region. She was responsible for bringing Georgia OKeeffe, Ansel Adams, D.H. Lawrence and many others to New Mexico. Every day she would do a few hours of correspondence, and we had access to many of those personal letters from OKeeffe and D.H. Lawrence, he says. We only had time to go through about 30 boxes. Having access to those made the film better. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. When Aristophanes sex farce Lysistrata played at the Lenaea Comedy Festival in 411 B.C., the Peloponnesian War had already been raging for 20 years, and would continue for another seven more. In the end, Sparta would defeat Athens and the Athenian Empire the Golden Age of Greek democracy, literature, theater and philosophy would come to an ignominious close. Like today, comedians were expected to present strong political opinions in a manner designed to provoke laughter, thought and, in some, outrage. Aristophanes was already known for his wild and extravagant comedies, and in Lysistrata, the worlds first great comic writer would not fail to astound again. To end the war, Lysistrata suggests to the women of both Athens and Sparta that they stage a sex strike, refusing their men sex until the hostilities cease. In 2003, peace activists embarked on The Lysistrata Project, whereby thousands of readings of Lysistrata took place around the world in protest of the Iraq War. Lysistrata: A Womans Translation by Drue Robinson was the translation of choice for The Lysistrata Project, and it is the choice of Bridget Dunne, who is directing a production of the play at the Vortex Theatre. Robinsons translation is breezy and light, written in rhymed couplets that flow off the actors tongues quite easily. Unfortunately, the production fails to live up to the expectations an old classic done in contemporary translation elicits. Part of the problem is Dunnes decision to use antique Grecian costumes and setting. The text has been adapted, but the production still seems stuck in the age in which it was written. It practically screams for a more contemporary treatment. The costumes sit awkwardly and unattractively on the actors bodies, and the three-dimensional pillars and one-dimensional paintings of the Greek countryside dont serve the story well today. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ So how does one do this play now to make it soar? Any play nearly 2,500 years old is going to be tricky, but I suspect the answer lies in what the play is all about: sex. Although later in the play the men all have erections showing through their Greek costumes, the truth is I never felt the explosive libidinous drive that alone can empower this play. The show needs to be sexier. Another problem was the interpretation of the male characters. They seemed too stupid, and so were not a good match for the women, who so easily outsmarted them. Finally, the show wasnt nearly as funny as it should have been. Doing a play like this is a scary proposition, because it needs to be so insanely funny that the audience members are practically falling out of their seats with incontrollable laughter; otherwise it doesnt work, it just comes off as silly. In other words, it needed to be completely over-the-top. Dunne has a strong cast, but the necessary style for this difficult old play eluded them. Lysistrata is playing through March 3 at the Vortex Theatre, 2900 Carlisle NE. Tickets at www.vortexabq.org or 247-8600. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Albert Bierstadts famous painting of Mount Corcoran captured a mammoth display of the Sierra Nevada celebrating American grandeur. Kent Monkmans response to the Hudson River artists circa 1876 showpiece depicts the landscape through a specifically Native American lens. Monkman repurposes this historic scene with Custers 7th Cavalry, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts curator Manuela Well-Off-Man said. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ The artists irreverent take captures the white soldiers sunning and bathing pre-Battle of the Little Bighorn. He places himself in the center painting at an easel, using a paintbrush to expose the immorality of Manifest Destiny. He presents himself as this drag queen, Well-Off-Man said. He inserts the victor into the scene. Monkmans History Is Painted by the Victors serves as the centerpiece of the traveling exhibition Art for a New Understanding Native Perspectives 1950s to Now, open at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts through July 19. There will also be a handful of films screened as part of the exhibit. The survey includes such familiar names as Fritz Scholder, Oscar Howe and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, as well as multimedia artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. Hanska Luger (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara/Lakota) works outside Santa Fe. His Mirror Shield Project captures Native protesters holding up full-length mirrors at the Standing Rock North Dakota Pipeline protest to protect water rights in 2016. To create the still photograph, the artist arranged the protesters in the shape of a water serpent. He took inspiration from Ukrainian women who held up their compact mirrors to police as they protested a corrupt government. They held up their compacts so the police could see themselves committing violent acts, Well-Off-Man said. Scholders iconic Monster Indian, 1968, is an oil-on-canvas from the artists American Indian series, lent by IAIA board Chairman Loren Kieve. We have never before exhibited it in the museum, Well-Off-Man said. The painting protests Native American mistreatment. He combines different art movements the Pop Art color work; distorted face with expressionist brushwork. He said the Indian is a paradox a monster to himself and a nonperson to society. Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota) uses beads and jewelry to comment on Native imagery in the fashion industry. Strands of beads and pendants cover a models face like a shroud. She is a very beautiful photographer, Well-Off-Man said. These were gifts to her by friends of different tribes. The fashion industry of course doesnt pay attention to this and the original native designs lose their meaning. Art for a New Understanding traces multiple timelines with key historic events, highlighting artists from what is now known as Canada and the U.S. whose paintings, sculptures, textiles, photographs, videos and performances tell stories that are both intensely personal and broadly relevant. The exhibition was organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Bentonville, Ark. Support for this exhibition and its national tour is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sothebys Prize. If you go WHAT: Art for a New Understanding Native Perspectives 1950s to Now WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Wednesday-Saturday. Closed Tuesday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday through July 19.WHERE: IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 108 Cathedral Place, Santa FeHOW MUCH: $10 adults; half-price seniors (62+), students with ID and New Mexico residents. Free to members, Native people, veterans and their families, ages 16 and under and state residents on Sunday. For information, visit iaia.edu, 505-983-1666. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Howling winds, freezing temperatures, fatigue and the daily search for food and water have not stopped Bernice Ende from following her chosen lifestyle as a nomadic equestrian. Over the last 14 years, she has covered nearly 30,000 miles, crisscrossing the country with her horses and faithful companion Claire Dog. Ende, 64, grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota and fell in love with horses at a young age. She trained as a classical ballet teacher and taught dance in Montana for 25 years before she decided to change her life. Some people have called her the crazy lady, and she admits to having soul-searching moments. But what began as a way of overcoming a personal loss, has evolved into a lifestyle. She acknowledges that she could never return to living in one place. She is called to be a long rider, one who rides journeys of more than 1,000 miles. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Ende (pronounced N-Dee) is lean and tanned with piercing blue eyes. She speaks in a resonant voice that captures the imagination. She has given hundreds of talks at schools, senior homes and community centers. She says everyone is on their own long ride, be it marriage, parenting or just life. She hopes her rides encourage women to become leaders. Ende has written searing account of her many journeys in her book, Lady Long Rider, published in 2018 by Farcountry Press. She is midway through a coast-to-coast book tour and will give three more talks in New Mexico. The Land of Enchantment has a special draw for Ende. It was the destination she chose on her first long ride in 2005, a 1,800-mile trek from her home in Trego, Mont., to the home of her older sister, outside Edgewood. She described that first journey as nightmarish. She traveled with only one horse a Tennessee Walking Horse called Pride and her dog. She had no tent and slept on sheepskins she used beneath her saddle, covered with blankets and a tarp. Nevertheless, she became hooked. Since then New Mexicos enchantment has lured me back again and again. I feel like Im riding in a movie when I cross through New Mexico, Ende said. In 2006 and 2007, she did a 5,000-mile ride and encountered seven snow storms as she crossed this state. She writes about how grateful she was for the hospitality she encountered from a family on the Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation near Socorro and from residents of tiny Pie Town. I survived in large part to New Mexicos generosity. My small notebooks from those years are filled with dozens of addresses, people who kindly helped a sorry looking traveler on her journey, said Ende. By 2008, she had honed her traveling skills and acquired a pack animal, a rugged Fjord horse called Essie Pearl. She was quite the sight as she rode through Quemado, Magdalena and Edgewood. Now I had two horses, a traveling dog and pony act came racing into town, as my dog rode on the pack horse! she said. People often stop her and say how they envy her freedom. She is passionate about what she does but honest about how tough it is and how much she depends on the kindness of others. Time and again, people have opened their homes, shared meals with me, washed my clothes, repaired tack, shod a horse, and encouraged or supported me in one way or another. 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THOMAS VAN DE WALKER INDEPENDENCE It has recently been brought to my attention that we now live in a Trumpiavellian world. In this brave new world we must be careful what we say. However, it should be noted the right to agree with Donald Trump shall not be infringed. Meanwhile, Trump is relentless in his ad hominem attacks to belittle and demonize anyone who disagrees with him. For instance, if you claim to be a member of the loyal opposition you will probably be referred to as an angry radical Democrat. And if you are a true humanitarian you will probably be labelled a leftist or a socialist as if compassion was a crime against humanity. Trump has also informed us American democracy is a failed experiment and he, and only he, can fix it. Consider the absurdity of that assertion. If Donald Trump said the world is flat there would be a number of his followers who would defend his position. Let the word go forth from this place and time that there are many of our citizens who want to restore democracy to its rightful place in America. Abortion laws STEVE KAPLER Reality is never an obstacle for President Donald Trump. The opioid epidemic is an example. The National Institute on Drug Abuse stated opioid-related overdose deaths increased from 8,048 in 1999 to 47,600 in 2017, including prescription opioids like OxyContin and methadone, heroin and other synthetic narcotics (fentanyl). Trumps answer in 2017 was the death penalty for the big pushers who kill thousands of people but wont be punished. Last month he tweeted it could be stopped cold by a border wall. Not so. The nations biggest drug pusher is based in Connecticut and approved to ply its trade. Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, introduced OxyContin heroins chemical cousin in 1996 as a 12-hour alternative to six-hour Percocet and Roxicodone (oxycodone). It was touted not just for cancer patients, but other pain sufferers. Purdue aggressively marketed it with dinners for doctors (most lacking a pain management background), resort junkets, hats, toys and music CDs (Get in the Swing With OxyContin). By 2016, one study found U.S. doctors prescribed opioids in 97 percent of cases involving acute pain. It was 47 percent in Japan. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 17) Another pack of cocaine was recovered along the shorelines of Camarines Norte. This time at Barangay Bagumbayan, Paracale town Saturday afternoon. This is the second incident that boxes of cocaine were recovered in the province in six days. The brick weighed 989.23 grams with an estimated market value of 5,242,919, a police report released Sunday said. Police Regional Spokesperson Malu Calubaquib said a 46-year-old resident identified as Norly Laudiana Soriano found the box while walking along the shoreline of Paracale town. Soriano saw a brick-like item wrapped in brown duct tape with the mark "lexus." Calubaquib said she immediately turned over the item to Paracale Municipal Police Station officials who subsequently submitted it to the Provincial Crime Laboratory Office for examination. Under Chemistry Report D-68-19 released Sunday, the examination gave a positive result to the test for the presence of cocaine. On February 11, regional police found a pack of cocaine worth 839.97 grams worth P4.5 million on the shoreline of Brgy. Sabang, Vinzons, Camarines Norte. Earlier, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde maintained there is no market of cocaine in the country but said intelligence reports show that Philippine seas may be a drop-off point for drug syndicates. Over the past few days, more than 70 blocks of cocaine amounting to almost half a billion pesos were discovered on the shores of Siargao and Dinagat Islands. The PNP has urged the public to remain vigilant and active in participating in the police's anti-drug efforts. "Your active participation in our anti/illegal drugs law enforcement operations and maintenance of peace and orders continues to inspire us in performing our mandate as provided for by law to fight illegal drugs with utmost respect for human rights," the PNP Chief Public information Officer said. Albay-based journalist Rosas Olarte contributed to this report. WATERLOO More than 25 years have passed since Waterloo Public Library supporters celebrated a major show of community support. Voters in November 1993 had overwhelmingly approved a 27-cent tax levy to support the struggling library with funding to stay open more hours each week. But Cindy Wells, who co-chaired the levy steering committee and now serves on the librarys board of trustees, said stagnant funding in recent years is threatening to undo the fruits of that victory. We promised the citizens increased hours and becoming accredited (in 1993), and we did exactly that, Wells said. But over the years, the city has lowered its funding and made us use more and more levy funds for the basics. We are now at the point again that we have reduced hours, staff and materials and we are in jeopardy of losing accreditation, she added. We need to maintain what we had after securing the levy. The levy revenue on top of the traditional city budget support helped the library, which was open just 39 hours a week in 1993, jump to 56 operating hours the following year and eventually peak at 69 hours. Budget cuts in the past two years have left the library open just 62 hours a week. WATERLOO Fireworks rules and the expanded use of automated traffic cameras are up for debate this week. Waterloo City Council members are scheduled Monday to approve the final reading of an ordinance lifting a ban on the use of consumer fireworks and letting residents shoot them off from July 3-5. Also up for consideration at the 5:30 p.m. meeting in City Hall is an unrelated request from Police Chief Dan Trelka to allow the traffic cameras set up to catch motorists running red traffic signals to also issue speeding citations. Council members have voted 4-3 to approve the first two readings of the ordinance which would allow fireworks use between noon to 11 p.m. July 4 and from noon to 10 p.m. on both July 3 and July 5 each year. State law allows a 38-day window in June and July and another winter period in December through the New Years Eve celebration, but cities are allowed to adopt shorter periods or ban fireworks use entirely in their jurisdictions. Waterloo allowed a five-day fireworks window in 2017 but banned them later that year after residents complained about excessive noise and litter. WATERLOO Sen. Kamala Harris, a 2020 presidential candidate, will return to Waterloo for a second time next Sunday. Shell be at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church at 10:15 a.m. Feb. 24 for a meet and greet and worship service. The church is at 805 Adams St. The visit is part of a larger tour through Iowa, starting in Des Moines on Saturday and ending in Cedar Rapids later next Sunday. Shell make stops in Ankeny and Bettendorf. Harris announced her candidacy in a video on Jan. 21. Prior to the 2018 midterm election, Harris came through Cedar Falls and Waterloo to campaign for local and statewide Democratic candidates. Love 5 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 OSAGE A request was made to the Mitchell County Board of Supervisors for the possible funding of an assisted living facility in St. Ansgar. Two St. Ansgar residents, Emily Moore and Lori Mayer, requested supervisors provide tax increment financing funds to be used for a 10-unit assisted living facility. The two said they had recently conducted a survey that found approximately 60 percent of the respondents said there was a need for additional assisted living in the county. Approximately 90 percent of respondents said St. Ansgar needed an assisted living facility or an independent living facility. It would put 10 houses back on the market, Moore said. It would cost $150,000 to construct a single unit. We are asking for $500,000 from TIF which would equate to $50,000 towards each unit. Moore said it would be a nonprofit facility, located east of Good Samaritan in St. Ansgar. By being nonprofit, it would make the facility more affordable for residents. The projected monthly rental cost would be $3,500 a month. My mother conducted her own survey, Mayer said. She discovered there are over 90 widows living alone in homes as well as over 10 widowers. CEDAR FALLS The University of Northern Iowa College of Education will host the eighth annual African-American Children and Families Conference from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Friday in the Schindler Education Center. A pre-conference will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday in Maucker Union. The theme for this years conference is The Power of Our People, Strength Through History, Culture, Hope, Experience and Collective Stories. This conference is designed for educators, administrators, child care providers, law enforcers, policy makers, health care professionals, social workers, business leaders and students of all ages. The goal of the conference is to promote a better understanding of culture, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status and the needs of African-American families. Participants will engage in networking, sharing ideas and meeting new colleagues to improve the quality of life for African-American children and families. Keynote speakers for this event are Jamila Lyiscott and Louis Hilton. Lyiscott is a social justice education scholar, nationally renowned speaker, spoken-word artist and educational consultant. Hilton is a former professor of history of African-American education and currently an educational consultant. Cao Bang in the northern border defense war 40 years ago: Bang Giang bridge in Cao Bang town was destroyed. Trung Khanh hospital was devastated. The neighborhood of Cam Garden, Cao Bang town, was demolished. A Buddhist temple in Cao Bang town was destroyed by Chinese forces. 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. The outgoing chief of a peace fund has warned against complacency around the peace process in Northern Ireland. Adrian Johnston served for 10 years on the board of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), including six years as chairman. He led the transformation of a number of Northern Irelands notorious peace walls and a shared education programme which sees schools across sectors working together more than ever before. But Mr Johnston, who steps down from the role in March, has warned against complacency as devolved government in Northern Ireland remains collapsed and Brexit looms. The scene of a car bomb on Bishop Street in Londonderry in January 2019 (Steven McAuley/PA) The Londonderry man said he was shocked by the recent car bomb in the city, revealing that despite growing up in troubled times himself, he did not think he would be having to explain such events to his own children. I grew up walking past the old Ebrington Barracks to school every day, delivering newspapers and getting my paper bag searched, it was part of normal life then, he said. For my kids the car bomb was like a scene from world war three. We cant shy away from our history, we need to ensure young people learn from it. Dr Adrian Johnston chairman of the International Fund for Ireland at a peace wall interface on Springfield Road, Belfast (PA Archive) Mr Johnston also spoke of his fears around the impact of Brexit, saying tensions are already being felt, particularly in border areas. Free movement of people across the border is essential, I would have concerns around that and the knock on impact on border communities that already feel isolated becoming further isolated, he said. Mr Johnston first joined the board of the International Fund for Ireland in 2009 when it was on a glide path to closure. As I look back now there was a real sense of optimism, Senator Gary Harte summed it up, what more work is needed, he said. In hindsight an element of complacency had crept in. There was a very affluent peace and reconciliation sector, a lot of organisations giving out funding. Story continues In 2012 that complacency had led to stagnation in terms of the peace process and the really divisive issues were not being dealt with, such as segregated education and segregated communities. In my view it was not a fully inclusive process, there were still people on both sides who felt isolated. It was my firm belief they had to be engaged with. Mr Johnston said when he was appointed as chairman he wanted to focus on issues such as segregation and peace walls. He described one of his highlights as seeing the funds shared education programme written into legislation. During his tenure a number of peace walls across Northern Ireland were transformed or removed, with the fund playing a key role as a conduit between local communities and statutory agencies. According Department of Justice figures, of the 56 structures it owns, 46 now remain in place. One of Belfasts oldest peace walls between Finn Square on the Falls Road and Boundary Street on the Shankill Road (Niall Carson/PA) These include 36 in Belfast, six in Derry and four in Lurgan and Portadown, Co Armagh. Among the walls transformed include one at a former flashpoint in Ardoyne in north Belfast in 2016. A peace wall at the top of the Crumlin Road in Belfast opposite Holy Cross Church in 2016 being demolished (Housing Executive/PA) It was transformed to lower height black metal railings following agreement between the local communities. However Mr Johnston said some of his proudest moments in the job were seeing young people being able to access opportunities, such as third level education, that they might not have otherwise after engaging with programmes the fund backs. Fourteen Tunisian oil workers kidnapped in Libya were freed Sunday night after three days in captivity and are in good health, the Tunisian consul in country said. Armed men seized the 14 Tunisians from a bus on Thursday as they were heading to work at an oil refinery in Zawiya, just to the west of the Libyan capital.The consul, Taoufik al-Guesmi, did not disclose the conditions for the release of the workers, whose abductors had demanded a man jailed in Tunisia be released from prison.But a security source in Zawiya confirmed the news of their release, saying the hostages had been freed in an operation carried out by the town's security forces.The forces "stormed the place where they were being held and were able to release them without fighting, no casualties," Thamer Mounir, head of the media section of the Zawiya security service, told AFP.Mounir was unable to say if any arrests had taken place.Earlier Sunday, in a video posted on social media, the kidnappers had demanded the release of a man jailed in Tunisia for drug trafficking.The video, verified by a Tunisian source close to the case, showed the abductees identifying themselves and naming their hometowns while sitting on mattresses.The last one then says that the people holding them want the release of Libyan Kamal al-Lafi al-Hijaoui, adding that he and the other abductees were "in good health".A Tunisian source said Hijaoui had been sentenced this month in Tunisia to 20 months in prison for drug trafficking.Zawiya is held by armed groups, including some who are involved in people-smuggling rings or the contraband sale of fuel.Abductions are common in Libya, which has been mired in chaos since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.The kidnappings are usually carried out by armed groups which demand a ransom.In June 2015, 10 Tunisian consular staff were abducted by a militia. They were eventually released in exchange for one of its members who was held in Tunis.Libya's interior ministry has set up a "crisis cell" in response to the latest abductions.(AFP) Fourteen Tunisian oil workers kidnapped in Libya were freed Sunday night after three days in captivity and are in good health, the Tunisian consul in country said. Armed men seized the 14 Tunisians from a bus on Thursday as they were heading to work at an oil refinery in Zawiya, just to the west of the Libyan capital. The consul, Taoufik al-Guesmi, did not disclose the conditions for the release of the workers, whose abductors had demanded a man jailed in Tunisia be released from prison. But a security source in Zawiya confirmed the news of their release, saying the hostages had been freed in an operation carried out by the town's security forces. The forces "stormed the place where they were being held and were able to release them without fighting, no casualties," Thamer Mounir, head of the media section of the Zawiya security service, told AFP. Mounir was unable to say if any arrests had taken place. Earlier Sunday, in a video posted on social media, the kidnappers had demanded the release of a man jailed in Tunisia for drug trafficking. The video, verified by a Tunisian source close to the case, showed the abductees identifying themselves and naming their hometowns while sitting on mattresses. The last one then says that the people holding them want the release of Libyan Kamal al-Lafi al-Hijaoui, adding that he and the other abductees were "in good health". A Tunisian source said Hijaoui had been sentenced this month in Tunisia to 20 months in prison for drug trafficking. Zawiya is held by armed groups, including some who are involved in people-smuggling rings or the contraband sale of fuel. Abductions are common in Libya, which has been mired in chaos since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising. The kidnappings are usually carried out by armed groups which demand a ransom. In June 2015, 10 Tunisian consular staff were abducted by a militia. They were eventually released in exchange for one of its members who was held in Tunis. Libya's interior ministry has set up a "crisis cell" in response to the latest abductions. (AFP) Analysis: Heres your property tax cut, maybe. Heads up its expensive. was first published at by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Former Labour vice chairman Michael Dugher has said he is intending to leave the party, saying he now regards it as institutionally anti-Semitic. Mr Dugher, who was elected as MP for Barnsley East in 2010 and left Parliament in May 2017, claimed the party he joined nearly three decades ago no longer exists. He served as vice chairman of the party under Ed Miliband between 2011 and 2014 and later became shadow secretary for transport and culture. Labour disclosed this week it had received 673 allegations of anti-Semitism by its members over the past 10 months, leading to 12 individuals being expelled. A party spokesman said the numbers involved amounted to around 0.1% of the total membership roll, but added: One anti-Semite in our party is one too many. Writing in the Sun on Sunday, Mr Dugher said the Labour party had repeatedly failed to adequately tackle anti-Semitism. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. The now chief executive of UK Music said: I will continue to have lots of dear friends in the Labour Party, including many talented MPs and hard-working local councillors who are fantastically dedicated public servants. Yet in all good conscience, I can no longer justify paying subs to a party which I now regard as institutionally anti-Semitic. He said situations where prominent Jewish Labour MPs Ruth Smeeth and Luciana Berger needed police protection made him want to cry, and expressed concern at the attitude of shadow chancellor John McDonnell after Ms Berger was facing a vote of no confidence from her local party. Luciana Berger (centre) was facing a vote of no confidence from her local party (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Mr McDonnell suggested the move to censure the MP was due to concern she may join a breakaway party, not over her attacks on Jeremy Corbyns handling of anti-Semitism. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson later intervened in the controversy to offer his support to Ms Berger in what he called her battle against bullying hatred from members of her local party. Story continues Mr Dugher, also a former vice chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel group, was quoted in the Jewish Chronicle in 2015 saying that his party had mishandled their relationship with the Jewish community through neglect, or frankly in some instances, incompetence. In the same interview, he said Labours decision under Mr Miliband to support a backbench motion which would unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state was a fundamental and rather catastrophic political management error. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has previously come under fire over allegations of not doing enough to root out anti-Semitism (Aaron Chown/PA) Jeremy Corbyn came under intense pressure last year over allegations that under his leadership Labour had not taken enough action to deal with anti-Semitic remarks and behaviour among its ranks. In September, the ruling National Executive Committee adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition in full, after coming under attack for initially omitting some of its examples of anti-Semitic behaviour. Last month, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis told BBC Radio Five Live that tension continued to exist between the Jewish community and the Labour Party and said he was very concerned by the situation. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell admitted Labour had not been fast enough in dealing with anti-Semitism. He said the partys general secretary Jennie Formby had doubled the staff, brought in a senior lawyer and multiplied the number of committees dealing with the issue. Weve got to be ruthless about this, he told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show. Sky News Will Sir Keir Starmer face the biggest crisis of his leadership to date if he loses the by-election in the West Yorkshire constituency of Batley and Spen next week? Will former Labour MP George Galloway, standing for the Workers Party, attract enough support from the constituencys large Muslim community, previously loyal to Labour, to deny the incumbent the seat? Will the Conservative Party's approach of standing aloof from the slugfest between Labour and Mr Galloway's Workers Party while following a "local" playbook identical to the one that proved successful in Hartlepool, allow them to come though the middle to victory? Indian Army soldiers in a vehicle patrol a street as a woman walks past during a curfew in Jammu Indian Army soldiers in a vehicle patrol a street as a woman walks past during a curfew in Jammu, February 17, 2019. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta By Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Indian forces have detained 23 men suspected of links to the Pakistan-based militant group that masterminded the bombing of an Indian security convoy that killed 44 paramilitary police, a top police official said on Sunday. The 23 men included members and sympathizers of Jaish-e-Mohammad, the militant group which has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, the deadliest on Indian security forces in decades. The attack has fuelled tensions between India and Pakistan. India has demanded Pakistan close down the Jaish and other Islamist militant groups that operate from its soil, while Islamabad has rejected suggestions it was linked to the attack. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility, is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan, but is ruled in part by both south Asian countries. Representatives of India's National Investigating Agency (NIA) questioned the suspects about the bombing on Sunday, two security officials said. "They are trying to reach out to the top commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammad, including its Kashmir Chief," one of the sources said. Mohammed Umair, the commander of the Jaish in Kashmir who is believed to have plotted the attack, is suspected to be hiding in the region where the attacks took place, the officials said. The officials say Umair had "radicalized and motivated" the Kashmiri school dropout who rammed a car laden with explosives into the convoy on Thursday. Umair is thought to have entered Indian Kashmir from Pakistan in September to head the Jaish in the region. Security forces suspect he is in hiding in southern Kashmir, according to the officials, who could not be named as a matter of policy. Indian officials say Umair is a nephew of the chief of the Jaish, Masood Azhar, who is believed to be in Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a strong response to the attack and says he has given the military a free hand to tackle cross-border militancy. Story continues The Jaish, considered to be one of the most lethal militant groups, has expanded its presence in Kashmir, the police officer said. India has raided the houses of suspected militants across South Kashmir to find information on those who masterminded and executed the attack. Muzaffar Ahmad Malik, whose brother declared himself a militant a year ago, told Reuters that his house was raided on Saturday by Indian troops. "They were looking for militants, as they said that they had information about militants hiding in the house," Malik said. Investigators are now trying to figure out how a large quantity of explosives used in the attack was smuggled into Kashmir, the officials said. A spokesman for the ministry of home affairs declined to comment. (Writing by Sudarshan Varadhan and Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Mark Potter and Jan Harvey) France said this week that it is toughening its online abuse laws after an outcry over young media executives who ran a macho "boys' club" that hounded female colleagues.Two government ministers said new rules will be tabled before the end of June to force social media platforms to pull hateful posts, with Twitter coming in for particular criticism.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 condemned for bullying women online with pornographic memes and off-colour jokes about rape culture.France's Digital Affairs Minister Mounir Mahjoubi said the government was considering changing the legal status of social media to make them face up to their responsibilities."It's unacceptable to have them dictating the rules all by themselves," he told Le Figaro newspaper.Mahjoubi rounded on Twitter, saying: "I find it intolerable when I see the head of Twitter (Jack Dorsey) informing the world in a single message that the conditions have changed, without anybody having the right to weigh in."A Twitter spokeswoman said the company's highest priority was the "the conversation's serenity."She added that Twitter was investing more in technology and had reinforced its security policies.As a result, the group had noticed "a drop in the number of complaints" by users, the spokeswoman said.Twitter 'not up to scratch'Mahjoubi noted that Twitter and Facebook's existing status as sharing platforms "significantly limits their responsibility" for online abuse and harassment.He 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."If we want to fight against harassment, platforms have to step up and invest, and today Twitter is not up to scratch," he later told France Inter radio.Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa, who is working with Mahjoubi on the new rules, was equally scathing about the network, taking issue with the "cold, automatic Twitter responses to victims' notifications" about content they deem abusive or insensitive."Sometimes there are lives at stake," she said, alluding to suicides linked to cyber bullying.Mahjoubi -- who described the League of LOL as a bunch of "losers" -- said Facebook, Twitter and YouTube had "particular responsibility" to act on online bullying and hate.New "legal and non-legal steps being considered to regulate the chain of hate" would oblige them to take down such content, he said.He contrasted Twitter's attitude with that of Facebook, which agreed last year to open its doors to French officials seeking to understand how it screens posts seen as sexist, racist or encouraging violence."Facebook has the merit of showing goodwill," he said. France said this week that it is toughening its online abuse laws after an outcry over young media executives who ran a macho "boys' club" that hounded female colleagues. Two government ministers said new rules will be tabled before the end of June to force social media platforms to pull hateful posts, with Twitter coming in for particular criticism. 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 condemned for bullying women online with pornographic memes and off-colour jokes about rape culture. France's Digital Affairs Minister Mounir Mahjoubi said the government was considering changing the legal status of social media to make them face up to their responsibilities. "It's unacceptable to have them dictating the rules all by themselves," he told Le Figaro newspaper. Mahjoubi rounded on Twitter, saying: "I find it intolerable when I see the head of Twitter (Jack Dorsey) informing the world in a single message that the conditions have changed, without anybody having the right to weigh in." A Twitter spokeswoman said the company's highest priority was the "the conversation's serenity." She added that Twitter was investing more in technology and had reinforced its security policies. As a result, the group had noticed "a drop in the number of complaints" by users, the spokeswoman said. Twitter 'not up to scratch' Mahjoubi noted that Twitter and Facebook's existing status as sharing platforms "significantly limits their responsibility" for online abuse and harassment. He 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. Story continues "If we want to fight against harassment, platforms have to step up and invest, and today Twitter is not up to scratch," he later told France Inter radio. Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa, who is working with Mahjoubi on the new rules, was equally scathing about the network, taking issue with the "cold, automatic Twitter responses to victims' notifications" about content they deem abusive or insensitive. "Sometimes there are lives at stake," she said, alluding to suicides linked to cyber bullying. Mahjoubi -- who described the League of LOL as a bunch of "losers" -- said Facebook, Twitter and YouTube had "particular responsibility" to act on online bullying and hate. New "legal and non-legal steps being considered to regulate the chain of hate" would oblige them to take down such content, he said. He contrasted Twitter's attitude with that of Facebook, which agreed last year to open its doors to French officials seeking to understand how it screens posts seen as sexist, racist or encouraging violence. "Facebook has the merit of showing goodwill," he said. Its Black History Month, and Snapchat is celebrating in style. This week, the social media giant launched an immersive lens to allow users to explore a virtual Art gallery featuring the work of black millennial artists. Spearheaded by Snapchats black employee group, coined SnapNoir, the feature includes art by Gianni Lee, Bianca Pastel, Jessica Spence, Jameel Mohammed, and Paracosm, and will be available until the end of February. A marriage between art and technology Snapchats gambit is just one indicator of an increasing synergy between art and Technology, often as a bid to make deeper points about the direction society is heading. One exhibit in New York, for example, taps into audiences inner voyeurist to make a point about the intersection of security and privacy in a modern home. Lauren McCarthys SOMEONE is a series of laptops set up in a Hudson Street gallery, all connected to a veritable feast of smart devices placed inside four homes. For two hours each day, visitors are permitted to use the laptops to control any smart device within the four homes; without leaving the gallery, they can flick the lights on and off, play music, and even interact with the homes inhabitants via text-to-speech technology. Other exhibitions have similarly played around with virtual reality and interactive installations. In Mumbai, an exhibition titled The Future Is Here includes nine room-size installations with visual projections, voice and movement sensors and abstract codes as a commentary on the future of classical art. Designed by millennials across India, visitors can meditate with a robot, navigate a 3D recreation of a house and design a new emoji to express niche emotions. Could the next Picasso be a robot? Late last year, an artwork entitled Portrait of Edmond Belamy sold for more than 45 times its estimated value at Christies. Even more notable than this skyrocketing price tag, however, is the identity, so to speak, of the artist: the portrait was generated by artificial intelligence algorithms. It was a landmark moment for both AI and art history, despite. the blurred portrait being described, rather ungenerously, as 100 per cent generic by Vulture art critic Jerry Saltz. Indeed, the work has hardly been a hit in the art world, with German artist Mario Klingemann mincing no words in describing the portrait as horrible art from an aesthetic standpoint. Controversy over the attribution of the AI-generated work also hasnt helped its case, with a battle playing out between 19-year-old artist and Stanford researcher Robbie Barrat and a French trio of coders who go by the name Obvious, who allegedly borrowed heavily from Barrats work. Needless to say, this infant intersection of technology and art is having some teething problems. Just a gimmick? Even so, technologys recurrent appearances in todays art world have provoked both excitement and accusations that the new dimension is nothing short of a cheap gimmick. At a panel discussion at Ulysses Festival more than a half-decade ago, featured speakers examined the role technology played in enhancingor taking away fromtheir artistic undertakings. Despite the obvious benefits wrought by new multimedia technology, the verdict of the panel was a clear one: audiences need not be bombarded with visual stimulus, and artists looking to do so must recognise the fine line they are walking. On the other side of the argument, however, sits British artist Chris Levine. Drawn to the stillness of lasers, his 2015 London-based exhibition The Geometry of Truth sought to use technology to demonstrate geometries in the natural world using more than 30 pieces, from 3D lightboxes to LED sculptures. His mixed media medley, he claims, was far from an over-stimulus; rather, Levine sought to extract audiences from the noise of the world. Already so commonplace, technology is far from the realms of the gimmick, he argues, it's really about how people are stimulated by it." Bringing clarity to the unregulated art market Indeed, in other areas of the art world, the question of technology being a gimmick isnt even on the table. The art market is in a boom, having recorded $63.7 billion in sales last year - up 12 per cent from 2017. This means the market is growing faster than traditional heavy hitters in corporate bond yields and small-cap US firms, drawing in cash at the same time is a whole new world of risk. Given the art industrys lack of regulation, the risk to investors of fraud is a sizeable one. There is increasing hope, however, that the technology known as Blockchain may substantially reduce deception. Originally devised for the digital currency bitcoin, Blockchain creates a public digital ledger of economic transactions. Independent of the control of a single individual, government or business, Blockchain may supply the modern proof of provenance needed to bridge the markets inefficiencies: Art is currently plagued by fraud, illicit business and tax evasion, all products of a fragmented physical market that is hard to follow, writes one UK government report, Enter blockchain, which on the surface appears a silver bullet. Silver bullet or not, the marriage of technology and art is set to be a fruitful one. 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. Manhattan, KS (66502) Today Cloudy this morning with thunderstorms developing this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 87F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Tyler, TX (75702) Today Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High near 95F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mainly clear. Low 76F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. The investigation into the alleged assault against Empire actor Jussie Smollett took a new turn over the weekend with Chicago police seeking to re-interview him, as he denies claims he orchestrated the attack. Last week police arrested two Nigerian brothers and held them for questioning. Both know Smollett according to their attorney. They were released late on Friday, and are now co-operating with police. Chicago Police Department has consistently said it was treating Smollett as a victim, while media reports claim the brothers admitted to police that Smollett paid them to carry out the attack. We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation, said department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Weve reached out to the Empire cast members attorney to request a follow-up interview. Smolletts lawyers say he is the victim of a hate crime, and will continue to cooperate with investigators. Smollett originally claimed two white men hurled racial and homophobic insults as they punched him, poured a chemical substance over him and put a rope around his neck. The full statement: As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with. He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying. One of these purported suspects was Jussies personal trainer who he hired to ready him physically for a music video. It is impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or would falsely claim Jussies complicity. Jussie and his attorneys anticipate being further updated by the Chicago Police Department on the status of the investigation and will continue to cooperate. At the present time, Jussie and his attorneys have no inclination to respond to unnamed sources inside of the investigation, but will continue discussions through official channels. Source: Variety Related US space documentary Cosmos: Possible Worlds has been delayed in the US while host and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is investigated for inappropriate behaviour. It was due to screen in Australia on National Geographic next month, as part of a 172 country roll-out in 43 languages. deGrasse Tyson has been accused by three women of sexual misconduct, denying the allegations but welcoming an investigation. The Hollywood Reporter notes there is no update on the Tyson investigation by FOX and National Geographic. Nat Geo previously pulled Tysons science-focused talk show Star Talk. Related A woman has pretended to be pregnant and tricked people on a bus in Ho Chi Minh City into chipping in with their money for her urgent childbirth at a local hospital. The incident happened along bus route No. 13, which runs from Cu Chi District to 23/9 Park in District 1, on Friday afternoon, the citys public transport management center confirmed on Saturday. Huynh Thi Nhu Thuy, operator of the bus, said her husband, Huynh Van Cu, was driving the bus that day. The woman got on the vehicle at the Cu Chi Bus Station, bringing along a young boy, about five to six years old, Thuy recalled. As the bus approached Hoc Mon District, the woman started uttering a few words and signaling something with her hands. She did not answer the other passengers as they asked her; instead she pulled up her shirt and pointed at her belly as if she were delivering a baby. My husband thought she was in labor. He decided to stop picking up passengers and steer the bus toward the nearest hospital, Thuy said. Some passengers chipped in with about VND1 million (US$43) for the pregnant lady, while Cu, the driver, gave her VND3 million ($129). At the infirmary, doctors concluded that the woman was not pregnant, adding that her stomach was big because of belly fat. She, however, still appeared to be in a lot of pain, thus doctors decided to perform an ultrasound on her, a nurse said. As she was waiting for the procedure, the woman headed to the restroom, before sneaking out of the hospital with the young boy and taking a bus back to Cu Chi District, along with the cash. The money was no big deal, but our trust and kindness were betrayed, Thuy stated. Thuy and her husband may also face a fine for going off route and refusing to pick up passengers. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A man from northern Vietnam was finally brought under control on Saturday after staying on a transmission tower for over 36 hours. On early Friday morning, residents on the outskirts of Hai Phong City reported seeing a man standing on a tower supporting 220 kV transmission lines, a local government leader named Nguyen Van Hien told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper a day earlier. He was talking unintelligible random phrases and believed to be under the influence of drugs, Hien said. Dispatched to the scene, police and rescue workers repeatedly persuaded the man, identified as Trinh Van Nham, 42, to descend but the effort ended in vain. Meanwhile, no power cut was possible as the transmission lines provide electricity to the inner city and the neighboring province of Thai Binh, Hien explained. We kept an eye on him around the clock, patiently dissuading him but hes still sitting up there talking nonsense all the time, the official recalled the Friday night in a rice paddy, where the 30-meter-tall pylon stands. He climbed down for one or two times, only to climb back up. It was only around 4:30 pm on Saturday that the man was subdued while he was descending to take food from his family, domestic news media reported. The man is known to be divorced, to have a history of being a drug addict and to have returned home last year from a rehab center. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Police in northern Vietnam are detaining nine security guards on criminal charges of stealing around 140 tonnes of coal from the firm they have worked for. Case reports show the men have been on the law enforcement radar screen since late January, when they were first suspected of stealing coal from PT Vietmindo Energitamas depot in Uong Bi City in coastal Quang Ninh the countrys lifeline coal production province. The nine security guards were brought to a police station just a few days ago, together with an excavator operator of the company. The arrestees confessed to transporting about 140 tonnes of coal on January 28 and February 13 when they were tasked with protecting the depot. The probe into the case is being expanded. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Here are todays leading news stories: Society -- A woman pretended to be pregnant and tricked people along a bus route in Ho Chi Minh City into chipping in with a total of VND4 million (US$172) for her to deliver the baby at a local hospital on Friday afternoon, authorities confirmed on Saturday. -- A man allegedly high on drugs has been sitting on a transmission tower of a high voltage electric line in the northern Vietnamese city of Hai Phong since Saturday morning, while authorities have yet to be able to bring him down. -- A 70-year-old woman who earned a living by collecting scrap was killed after being hit by a truck in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang on Saturday. -- A taxi driver in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau was caught storing crystal meth in his cab and tested positive for the stimulant on Saturday, claiming he had consumed it to stay awake. -- Police in the northern province of Quang Ninh have arrested a group of nine security guards who were involved in the stealing of 140 metric tons of coal from a local company in late January. -- Two companies in Nha Trang City in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa have been fined a combined VND135 million ($5,805) for employing a total of 22 foreign workers without legitimate labor contracts. Business -- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a conference in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on Saturday, which was aimed at seeking ways to promote tourism in the central and Central Highlands region. -- Farmers in the Mekong Delta have become worried as the price of paddies is rapidly decreasing ahead of a major harvest season. -- Approximately 600 officers from different military units in Chau Duc District, Ba Ria -Vung Tau Province were mobilized to help local farmers harvest their pepper crops on Saturday. As pepper price has been plummeting, farmers have avoided hiring harvesters in order to minimize losses. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! An elementary school teacher from Vietnams Mekong Delta has been creating job opportunities for the parents of her students to help them build a stable life and ensure a proper education for their children. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy first arrived at Hoa Binh D Elementary School in Tra On District, Vinh Long Province to teach English in 2009. The school is located in a rural area where life was harsh and many parents could not afford education for their kids. Thuy thought it was up to her to improve the situation by providing the locals with a decent job and stable income. She formulated a plan according to which local parents would earn a living as industrial sewers, while she would be in charge of finding suitable partners. The school board supported the idea and allowed Thuy to use two classrooms at their old venue as sewing workshops. The teacher called on her friends and benefactors to raise a fund, which she later spent on sewing machines and other necessary items. After obtaining a permit from local authorities, Thuy encouraged local parents to join her sewing team and promised them sufficient and free-of-charge training. Many women in the rural district are now part of Thuys sewing team, a job that is very convenient for their daily schedule. Aside from our time at work, we are able to take our children to school, pick them up, and prepare meals for our families, a resident said. We earn an average of VND3 million [US$129] a month, which is just about enough, she added. Some of Thuys students are less fortunate than the others as they live in households so poor that their parents could not even have money fix their roofs. The teacher has never hesitated to help. She posted photos of such houses to Facebook and sought assistance from her friends and charitable groups. Thuy also runs an online shop that sells fruit and honey and spends all of her profit on clothes, books, and food for poor children in the locality. I try my best to help the kids stay in school and give them the motivation to overcome the rough paths of their lives, the teacher remarked. According to the principal of Hoa Binh D Elementary School, Thuy is a young, energetic, and creative teacher who dedicates everything she has to her students. The local educational sector has praised and rewarded the teacher for her accomplishment and contribution to the locale. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Starting early next month, the Star will drop the daily comic Non Sequitur and run Rubes in its place. Wiley Miller, the creator of Non Sequitur, inserted vulgar language aimed at President Trump into a strip featuring bears drawn in the style of Leonardo da Vinci. The strip, presented in black and white as a coloring exercise, ran in the Star on Feb. 10. The offending words are tiny and barely legible, which struck me at first as a mitigating factor, but on reflection makes it all the worse. Although Miller says he meant to erase the coarse language and that he never intended it for public consumption, the end result is that he slipped in language he knew editors would never allow without giving us the chance to object. The fact that it appeared in the section most likely to be read by kids my 11-year-old son reads the comics each morning makes Millers actions especially objectionable. Non Sequitur consistently ranks as one of our most popular comics and I apologize in advance to the many readers I know will be disappointed. But had a staff member slipped this type of language into a story, photograph or cartoon, I would take action so its only fair that I hold our contributors to the same standard. OPINION: "The fact that he kept this small black book for almost nine decades suggests he may have wanted us to learn more about him, even after he was gone," writes Amy Hirshberg Lederman. We hope you have enjoyed your complimentary access for the month. To continue viewing content on tucson.com, please sign in with your existing account or subscribe. Mexico Gunmen shoot up bar in resort city of Cancun MEXICO CITY Gunmen burst into a bar in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun and opened fire, killing five people and wounding five more, authorities said Saturday. Quintana Roo state prosecutors said in a statement that the attack took place in a club called La Kuka, which is located on a main avenue in central Cancun about 4 miles away from the seaside tourist hotel zone. Prosecutors said four men carrying a long gun and three handguns entered and began shooting. Two of the injured were in critical condition. Violence has been rising in Cancun and Quintana Roo as a whole amid reports of the Jalisco New Generation cartel moving into the area and fighting local gangs for control. Migrant shelter near border to close soon PIEDRAS NEGRAS An improvised shelter where hundreds of Central American migrants have been confined in the border city of Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas, will close this week, authorities said Saturday. More than 1,800 people in Arizona are waiting for a kidney, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. On average, a deceased-donor kidney transplant lasts 10 years. Comparatively, a living-donor transplant lasts, on average, 12 to 15 years, Jadlowiec said. Wait time in Arizona Three to five years Fortunately the Arizona wait list is relatively shorter than some other parts of the country, Jadlowiec said. The kidney wait list in Arizona is about three to five years, but the wait in other parts of the country can be 10 years. The difference is due to population size, availability, experience of surgeons and resources. Any healthy individual over 18 could be a potential donor, Jadlowiec said, adding theres no real age limit for a kidney donor. Although she stressed that every program adheres to different policies. Fairchild spent four days in the fall of 2017 traveling to Mayo Clinic in Phoenix to make sure she was healthy enough to donate and not at risk for kidney disease. Although, she added, if she or other donors ever do need a kidney in the future, they are added to the top of the list. But she said once she made the decision, she didnt worry much. The only place they dont want to give as much money $1,375,000,000. Sounds like a lot, but its not so much, although were putting it to much better use than it used to be. A lot of the past administrations, they had it was easy to get, and they didnt build or they didnt do what they could have done. It would have been great. It would have been great to have done it earlier, but I was a little new to the job, a little new to the profession. So, leaving aside the odd digression there the president said he was actually happy with almost all of the bill. Seems the only thing he wanted more money for was border barriers. How then would he justify calling it a national emergency? In fact, the primary fight was on the wall. Everything else, we have so much, as I said, I dont know what to do with it we have so much money. But on the wall, they skimped. Tucsons former Benedictine Monastery has received more than 500 parents and children since it opened its doors to families seeking refuge in the United States three weeks ago. The families, the vast majority from Central America, are vetted by immigration officials and released to continue the process of their immigration cases elsewhere in the country, usually where they already have relatives or friends who can sponsor them. In the meantime, after being dropped off by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they spend a night or two in places like Tucson, while volunteers help them reach family members so they can buy bus tickets. Catholic Community Services is running the shelter inside the former monastery. Current donation needs there include: toilet paper paper towels diaper wipes laundry detergent bottled water fruit cups applesauce pouches backpacks travel blankets financial support Lopez shared a few memories with me, and where there were gaps his sons and daughters filled in the missing details. Lopezs family has been keeping vigil with him since he entered hospice the previous week. Lopez was born in Douglas a couple of years before the Great Depression. He spent his early years in Bisbee and across the border in Agua Prieta, Sonora. In Douglas, his grandfather had a store on Third Street, three blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border. Lopezs family lived next door. But when economic calamity struck, Lopezs father, a construction worker, could not find work to feed the family, like so many others. Lopezs family, like so many others, drove west to California. Lopez, the oldest of nine children, never went further than the second grade but taught himself to read and write, his family said. Lopez needed to work to help support the family. When he turned 18, Lopez went to war. It was 1943. The following year he found himself racing across Western Europe as a tank gunner with the 558th Field Artillery Battalion in the U.S. Third Army under Gen. George S. Patton. Old Blood and Guts, Lopez whispered. It was the moniker that Pattons own soldiers had given him. A day after the second campaign launched on Friday, nearly 70 percent of the $10,000 goal had been reached. The campaign will remain open until March 3. The support has strengthened her family and friends to continue their mission. You never get over the loss, but there is a remaking of life. Helping these students study abroad is part of the remaking of somebody elses life and this really helped me, said Elayne Feldman, Allisons mother. Allison Feldman was found dead in her Scottsdale home on Feb. 18, 2015. She had been thriving at work, was a new homeowner of eight months and had surrounded herself with a network of friends and family. Her death started Harley Feldmans journey to speak with Scottsdale police and Arizona legislators that led to new DNA testing equipment used in the case. But it would take three years to find her alleged killer in April 2018. Four years later, friends, family and supporters gathered at the UAs Womens Plaza of Honor to remember Allison Feldman and share memories of a woman who always had a smile on her face, said Katie Wood, her best friend. I didnt know Allison during that time in her life, but I knew the Allison that came out from that time in her life and the confident woman that she was, said Wood. She honestly inspired me to become the confident, working woman that I am today. Contact Star reporter Shaq Davis at 573-4218 or sdavis@tucson.com On Twitter: @ShaqDavis1 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. Additionally, 11 percent placed the blame on those who had border crossing cards who stayed past their allotted time, five percent said it was vehicles smuggling people through the ports of entry, and two percent said it was migrant workers with forged documents. The poll, taken before Trump signed off on a new funding agreement to keep the federal government open, found that a majority of locals blamed him for the recent shutdown, the single largest in recent history. Seventy percent blamed Trump for the shutdown, 25 percent blamed Democrats in Congress, and 3 percent said it was the fault of congressional Republicans. Elected leaders were split on the poll results. Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier said while the number of people in Pima County who have doubts about the effectiveness of a border wall in stopping immigration is likely accurate, it doesnt reflect how Americans feel about Trumps proposal in other parts of the country. In his travels around the country, Napier says, people are more supportive of the wall pointing to Yuma and El Paso as examples of places where residents know that the wall works. The state began an investigation on Feb. 4, and Colby said the findings would be public within 45 days of the investigations completion. Colby said facilities should do a comprehensive assessment of a patients needs and risks during intake, but they are not required to have video surveillance. He also said the ADHS regularly gets calls from behavioral health facilities reporting patient AWOLs. Unless (patients) are court-ordered to be there ... theyre legally allowed to walk out the front door, he said. He said the investigation will look at whether the facility followed its own policies and whether those policies are adequate. The Pinal County Sheriffs Office has been the lead law enforcement agency working on Brecks case, and theyve found no evidence of foul play. When she first disappeared, the agency did a search of Sierra Tucson and surrounding area on foot, with dogs and air support, but didnt turn up any evidence of Breck. The Sheriffs Office did another extensive search of the area on Monday, Feb. 11, but didnt find anything, said Navideh Forghani, a PCSO spokeswoman. Another member of the Guano organization had high frequency communications with a major U.S. bank, records show. Another member used a BlackBerry to discuss meetings with Mexican military and drug trafficking activities, while another coordinated large shipments of cocaine from Colombia. Another application said a Guano member used a BlackBerry to provide information on rival drug cartels and cartel enforcement. Still other applications said BlackBerrys and WhatsApp accounts were used in various aspects of cultivating drugs and moving them around Mexico. The widespread use of BlackBerrys by the Sinaloa Cartel came to light at the trial for El Chapo. The HSI team in Nogales collected more than 1 million BlackBerry messages sent among El Chapos organization, according to an account of the trial by a New York Times reporter. After El Chapos conviction, the HSI office in Nogales was credited by the Drug Enforcement Administration and others for its role in bringing the drug kingpin to justice. A spokeswoman for HSI in Arizona declined to comment on the Nogales offices role in the investigation of El Chapo or the applications filed in Tucsons federal court. Q. What can we do to make it better for ocelots? A. First and foremost, its not building that geographic barrier. Nothing will end ocelot recovery faster than the wall, period. Aside from that ... not building copper mines in their habitat, and making sure we have these incredible parcels of wild spaces. Q. Talk about the border walls importance to ocelots. A. We have two endangered spotted cats here, jaguars and ocelots. These cats are part of Sonoran populations. We need to stop thinking of these cats in isolation. If we are to truly save these endangered cats, then we have to manage them as one contiguous population. Otherwise, there is not a chance of recovering those jaguars and ocelots on American soil. To build a contiguous, structural barrier would probably be the end of these endangered cats in the United States, probably forever. Q. Why? A. There arent any female jaguars or ocelots we know of in Arizona. Even if there was one or two that we missed, its not sustainable. There just currently isnt the genetic diversity in Arizona alone to be a long-term breeding population. WHAT: Traditionally, major New York auction houses open each new year with sales of important Americana. In five such auctions last month Sothebys realized $21.3 million, hammering home some 1,250-plus lots ranging from rare Chinese export porcelain to paintings, folk art and early English pottery. A sale of Fine Manuscripts and Printed Americana fetched $4.5 million, including almost $1 million for a William J. Stone facsimile of the Declaration of Independence. Traceable back to 1824, the copy printed on vellum was the only known privately held copy of a William J. Stone facsimile. Stone facsimiles are considered to be the most exact copies available of the original. In 1820 as the original Declaration became fragile, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned Washington engraver William J. Stone to produce a facsimile of the text and signatures. Stone took close to three years to prepare the copperplate, which he then sold to the State Department. It, in turn, printed 200 copies to be presented to dignitaries and surviving signers. The copy sold recently descended directly from a recipient. Thats the great thing about this project. Generally, we all have fun with each other on and off stage, he said. This will be the first time in its seven years that Doo Wop Project Nolfi, Brown, Scaglione, Russell Fischer and Dwayne Cooper will perform in Tucson. We are on the early leg of the groups tour that takes it across the country through May. That wasnt exactly what the group, under the musical direction of Santino Paladino, had planned when Nolfi and Scaglione first started in 2012. They imagined doing 40, maybe 50 shows when they werent in Broadway productions. What we didnt realize was that we could do 80 to 100, which is where we are now, Nolfi said during a phone interview with Brown. As actors were always looking for other avenues to support ourselves, Brown said. This was a side gig that turned into a gig-gig and has grown beyond what we first imagined for it. In addition to standard doo-wop fare, expect to hear the Doo Wop Project perform doo-wopified versions of Motown hits, songs from Broadways Jersey Boys and their doo-wop take on the Broadway classic The Impossible Dream. We dont want to look at just urban fiction those arent the only kind of writings we want to focus on all of the time, Harper said. We have diverse tastes like other cultures. There are some who love classical music, so why dont we have music by black classical musicians. There are some who are into bluegrass. There are artists who are black also. Kindred has partnered with the Dunbar Cultural Center, which Phillips described as an integral part in the history of the black community in Tucson, to bring library programming to their target audience. At those community events, Phillips and other members of the Kindred Team take the time to chat with attendees about what drew them in, whether theyve visited their neighborhood library branches and, if not, what could be done to make them comfortable enough to use the librarys resources. Having those conversations and being open to the feedback were receiving when folks see that change, they want to use the library, they want to come in, they want to embrace us just like we want to embrace them, Phillips said. Last year, the Kindred Team went into TUSD schools, partnering with the districts African American Student Services Department, to read to students and donate books so children could build their own libraries at home. Our state lawmakers, like any elected officials, should be held accountable for their words and actions. And if they cross lines or behave inappropriately, the public deserves to know that action is being taken. Thats why the voters of Wyoming deserve to know what is being done to address the complaints against Sen. Lynn Hutchings, who was accused last week of making very inappropriate and homophobic statements to a group of high school students. Senate leadership has said theyll be investigating the incident. But whatever steps they take to do so and any disciplinary action they may take will not be shared with the public. Thats because the examination will be handled by the Legislatures Management Council, and under its rules, complaints against individual lawmakers are kept confidential. Hutchings has been accused by the LGBTQ advocacy group Wyoming Equality of making comments to a group of LGBTQ youth that compared homosexuality to acts of bestiality or pedophilia. She denies making such a comparison but acknowledges her attempts at dialogue did not come across as I intended. We owe it to the people of Wyoming to continue the work of the Government Efficiency Study: investing in technology, improved processes and most importantly the people to make government more efficient and cost effective. Working with the executive and judicial branches, we can achieve a system of government services with value and transparency at the forefront. While efficiency often carries with it the implication of cutting spending and reducing the size of government two important goals of our work our aim is much higher. Efficiency also means ensuring our state employees have the training, knowledge and tools they need to be successful. It means reviewing statutory burdens that create unnecessary regulation. It means working with our Governor and other statewide elected officials to find areas for improvement and removing of redundancy. And it means improving transparency and public access to state government through technology. In a followup interview, Echols said she was told by Manor Heights principal Kent Thompson that the parents had been notified in the fall, when the district investigated. She said she learned that was not true after she spoke with the Star-Tribune. The parents of the student in the video have since watched the footage with Echols. I felt misled, and I can guarantee you those parents felt misled, Echols said. I was very much as concerned and frustrated as the parents were, and Dr. Kent Thompson has since apologized (to Echols and to the parents) for any perceived miscommunication. I was under the impression that when I say, Parents have been communicated with, and I have dates and times from the principal when they actually visited, up to and including face-to-face visits, I felt that I should be able to correctly understand that to mean that (Thompson has) been completely clear, she continued. And the parents did not feel at all as if he had been completely clear. She added that there were no excuses for the district not communicating with the parents and the parents receiving less than the truth. The parents of the student in the video did not understand the situation until they saw the video last month, she said. My wife is an amazing cook. We have a couple secret ingredients. Thats the same chili we use at Halloween any time we make chili, thats just our recipe at home. Atop their booth stood a sculpture of cowboy riding a bucking bull made from PVC pipe and chicken wire. The bulls eyes glowed red and fog puffed from its nose with the press of a remote control button. Wentz and his coworker Rhiannon Moore spent hours every Saturday for the last three months creating the sculpture, and hoped to win a booth decorating prize as well as a top chili placement, he said. Lassos decorated the rest of the booth, but the cowboy used chains in the sculpture to match the sculpture and represent the cowboy tough theme, Wentz said. Moore said she always learns something from building the booth decor. The chili cook-off is our favorite time of year, she said. Brett Osborne of Fremont Motors on Saturday hoped for a repeat of last years first place win for his and his wifes green chili. But competition is tough, he said. This was Osbornes 26th year in the cook-off, which outgrew its home of many years in the Industrial Building at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds. Oldham, however, took a job in Alexandria, Virginia, after graduation, putting on hold his intent to move back to Wyoming after Annes health difficulties began to set in. She required a liver transplant after contracting Hepatitis C from what she suspects was a bad blood transfusion. Her employer, the Embassy of Kuwait, helped her get the medical help she needed, and after her relatively quick recovery, her husband took Koski up on his offer. Since joining the public defenders office in April 2000, Oldham like everyone in the office has been responsible for the defense of people who cant afford to hire lawyers. Unlike a private attorney, he couldnt turn down cases. His clients had nowhere else to go. Standing at the podium alongside his clients, with a prosecutor watching and family members of victims seated behind him, he nearly always patted defendants on the back or gripped their shoulders. Hed do this for people accused of murder, sexual assault and other crimes of violence. It caught him flak from courtroom observers over the years, and sometimes the Star-Tribunes online readers. He wont apologize for it, whether his client was convicted or acquitted. I know my clients are scared, so almost always, Ill pat them on the back, he said. I just want to let them know that Im on (their) side. After a 48kg grenade exploded in the military camp at Waldhof on Thursday, two non-commissioned officers of the Luxembourg army lost their lives. Another is still in critical condition, but is showing strong signs of recovery following extensive surgery. Defense Minister Francois Bausch announced on Friday morning that the wounded soldier had been operated on throughout the night and that his condition had stabilised. The government held a moment of silence on Friday morning at the Governing Council in memory of the two victims. Next week, there will be a commemoration ceremony at the military camp and the two victims will subsequently be buried in their respective local communities following the traditions of military funerals. Later on, commemorative plaques with their names will be put up at the military camp in order to thank them for their service. The Grand Duke and Duchess have also shown their shock at what has happened on Thursday. After having received a detailed briefing from the Minister of Defence Francois Bausch and General Alain Duschene, the couple visited one of the surviving victims in hospital. Call for donations Some people have already started raising money for the victims' families. Their goal is to raise 100.000 euros. If you're interested in donating money, you can do so here. Nation in shock On Thursday morning, an ordnance exploded at the army's munitions depot in Waldhof (Waldhaff). A press conference in was held at 4.30pm. Francois Bausch began the press conference by expressing his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased sergeants, as well as those of the injured sergeants, all of whom are going through a difficult time. He confirmed that one of the injured sergeants remains critically injured, but the other is not in a life-threatening state and is conscious. Bausch was joined at the press conference by the Attorney General, Georges Oswald, and the Chief of Staff of the Army, Alain Duchene. Oswald and Duchene confirmed that the deceased sergeants were 47 and 39 years old and bomb disposal experts. The sergeants were in the process of preparing a 48 kilogram bomb from WWII for disposal. The bomb did not have a detonator, was classed as safe, and due to be taken to Belgium to be neutralised. The two injured sergeants, aged 44 and 41, came to the depot to collect equipment and were not involved in the relocation preparation. There were no other individuals in the building other than the four implicated in the explosion. Whilst others do work at the weapons depot, first established in 1948, no other army personnel were present in the building. The three officials were unable to answer all questions at the conference due to the ongoing investigation. The security perimeter remains in place and an investigators talked to the conscious sergeant. The police, bomb disposal experts, forensic officers, and a legal doctor were sent to the scene following the initial reports. A security perimeter was set up for them to be able to work efficiently. At midday, an investigating judge arrived at the scene in order to begin an autopsy and to name foreign experts who would help the investigation in ascertaining the cause of the explosion. Duchene also confirmed that one of the sergeants had a dog present at the time, but he only knew that a vet had been called to the site and had taken the dog away for further treatment. Bausch thanked the press for their understanding that the officials cannot provide answers to all the questions and explained that the next step will be to meet with the parliamentary commission on defence on Friday morning. As for army officials, they will monitor the explosion risks of other weapons as a consequence of the tragedy. Bausch confirmed that a remembrance ceremony will be held for the deceased. The Grand Duke and Duchess have also expressed their condolences to the victims' families. Earlier official communique Communique of the Luxembourg public prosecutor's office following an explosion at the military camp in Waldhof (14.02.2019) Around 10:30 this morning an explosion took place in a hangar of the military camp at Waldhof. At that moment four people were inside the hangar and were handling an artillery shell. Following the explosion, two people died. Two other people had to be hospitalized. One of them is in critical condition. Two Luxembourg prosecutors are on hand to conduct the investigation. First reporting According to eyewitnesses, the explosion was heard kilometres away. The head of the army and Minister of Defence Francois Bausch were on their way to a meeting in Belgium at the time of the explosion. The meeting was to visit the pilots of Luxembourg's military aircraft, due to be delivered in 2020. The meeting was cancelled once the explosion occurred. Earlier incident in 2012 This is not the first fatal incident to occur at the depot. On 6 November 2012, a soldier on patrol was hit by a bullet in the stomach and died from his wounds. The man had been shot as his colleague had not adequately secured his gun. In 2015, the colleague was sentenced to two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. My shower and bathtub are separate fixtures. Noticed one day that the shower was not heating up as it had been, frustrating me. I tolerated a tepid shower but got out shivering. Just one of those things, I thought. I opted for baths for a while, but then one day I tried the shower again with the same result. It was beginning to confound me. I asked a couple of people about it, but no one seemed to have an answer. Hard-headed for sure, I let the shower run for about five minutes the next time I used it to give it enough time to heat up. It felt a little warmer but still not hot. Every other spigot in the house immediately gave me hot water. I opted for baths again, but then I thought it was ridiculous that I had hot water everywhere else but not in my shower. I called a plumber. Two nice young men arrived, and I was ready to learn what perplexing problem was causing my issue. Well, lets take a look at it, one said, and we walked to the back of the house. Within a lot less time than I preferred because I just knew this was some kind of complicated conundrum they showed me the temperature control lever on the shower control. NORWAY Heading into February, the Town of Norway is $4,200 over budget, according to January's financial reports, and about $1,000 over budget for its water and sewer department financial reports. Also, the town paid $6,090 for water to the Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities in January. The municipal financial reports distributed at the Mondays council meeting did not indicate this. A citizen asked why the Town of Norway basically seemed to be paying itself $7,118.95 under the income column of the municipal budget. Councilman Gregg Covington and Mayor Ann Johnson both said that the more than $7,000 was matching funds received from the county for a new police car. So the town actually had about $7,000 less revenue than it had accounted for in January. Of the water and sewer deficit, Johnson said that the town has had extra expenses with leaks and loss of water. If we have a break and have a loss, Orangeburg DPU does not compensate us, Covington said. Two lines broke in the town on Sunday, Johnson said, and some of them were so old that attempted repairs only damaged them further. She said that the town water tank has mold, rust, and scaling, according to a recent inspection. Our water tank has not been serviced in years, she said. That is why we instituted the tank fee. If we are going to have clean water, this is what this tank fee is going toward. The fee is $2 per in-town resident and $3.50 for out-of-town residents, Carson said, but she did know the total cost of the cleaning fee for the tank. The tank inspection report, along with photos, will be posted on the towns website at https://townofnorth.sc.gov/. Carson also discussed recent comments on social media about paperless billing in the town. I would like to address the misrepresentations that are being posted on social media regarding paperless billing. There is no fee for paperless billing, and you do not have to pay online with paperless billing, she said. There has always been a fee for paying online and there will continue to be one. There is no fee for paperless billing itself. You can continue to come to the town hall and pay in person or use the drop box. In the history of South Carolina, the years of Reconstruction signified the end of the system of slavery in America. This resulted in the inclusion of the former black slaves as free citizens. Simply put, blacks and whites had to change their ways of life and accept the results of the struggles that divided the people of America. As the state reknitted its quilt, five years after the Civil War in 1870, the state of South Carolina began to needle new stitches by electing the first black lieutenant governor. In 1870, Alonzo Ransier, a Republican, became the first black in the South to be elected lieutenant governor of a state. Ransier was born Jan. 3, 1834, in Charleston of free parents who were likely Haitian. He received limited education and worked as a shipping clerk. In the restructuring of South Carolina in 1865, he was appointed as register of elections under the military governor of the Carolinas. Ransier became a delegate in the S.C. Constitutional Convention of 1868. The convention laid the foundation for the future of South Carolina. There were 124 delegates, 76 of them black and 46 white. Ransier served as auditor of Charleston, and in 1868 he was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives representing Charleston. A South Carolina State University graduate has co-authored a book on the role of historically black colleges and universities in today's higher education. IGI Global, an international academic publisher specializing in research publications, has released "Examining Student Retention and Engagement Strategies at Historically Black Colleges and Universities." It is edited by authors Dr. Samuel L. Hinton, an independent researcher, and Dr. Antwon D. Woods, from Belhaven University. Hinton is a graduate of S.C. State. Woods is a graduate of Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss. The book is a reference source that provides vital research on the role of HBCUs today with research addressing student retention rates, success levels and engagement. While highlighting topics such as enrollment management, student engagement and online learning, the publication explores successful engagement strategies that promote educational quality and equality, as well as the methods of social integration and involvement for students. The book is designed for researchers, academicians, scholars, educational administrators, policymakers, graduate students and curriculum designers. This book is available through IGI Global, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Walmart and others. Love 5 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 To the Editor: As a retired senior citizen, my favorite morning activity is sipping coffee while reading the print edition of The Southern. Despite now being printed out of state, there has been no delay in arrival at my home early each morning and placed on my front porch within inches of the door, thanks to my outstanding carrier, who is aware Im an older customer. Although they consume space which could be used for actual news, Im always delighted by the extraordinary area photographs (particularly those by Byron Hetzler and nature shots by Les Winkeler). I clip and mail them to my brother who currently lives in desert terrain in Arizona, reminding him of the beauty in his hometown in southern Illinois. I understand the economics involved in moving the printing out of state. Ive often thought that we, in this geographical area, are fortunate to still have a local newspaper when others, such as the Mount Vernon Register, have gone out of business. In this technological age, many choose to receive news from various other sources. An online subscription with The Southern costs significantly less than home delivery, not to mention the extra charge for numerous unwanted premium publication inserts (at $5 each) added to our print editions. We are at once encouraged and alarmed by changes and potential changes on the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees. The election of Phil Gilbert as chairman of the board is a serious step in the right direction. The SIU System, more specifically Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is enduring the most troubled period in its 150-year history. Shackled by the State of Illinois financial free fall, SIUC has seen its enrollment drop precipitously in the last decade. Planned projects to build new student housing and a new Communications Building have been put on the shelf. Faculty and staff have been cut. Worse yet, self-inflicted wounds in the form of administrative scandals have further soiled the universitys reputation. Former system President Randy Dunn was dismissed by the board last year after he was implicated in a scheme that would result in the dismantling of the SIU System. And, the board was rendered ineffective by a schism so deep it threatened the viability of the system it purported to manage. That is the minefield Phil Gilbert will be stepping into when he begins his term as board chair. We can think of no one better suited for the job. Remember, a dollar saved today by not putting it into the pension fund results in multiple investment dollars lost that will have to be put in by taxpayers years down the road. This is the biggest reason why the states pension payments are so high right now. Payments were deferred and, therefore, investments were not made and then debt piled up to mountainous levels and taxpayers are currently being forced to make up the difference. Almost all the revenue from the 2011 income tax hike had to go to the pension funds because the state had gotten itself so far in over its collective head that it couldnt make the full annual payment. When the tax hike was allowed to partially roll back in 2015, the state kept making pension payments, but that exploded its unpaid bill backlog and forced cuts to the rest of government. Pritzker has said over and over again that he opposes any sort of constitutional change to allow for reduced pension benefits going forward. The only remaining option is to pay the piper. The temptation appears intense right now to once again try to shift those payments into the future. The Pritzker folks say transferring state assets into the pension funds could negate the long-term negative fiscal impact of extending the payment ramp. That would be true if those assets are significant and if the General Assembly agrees to do it. And its really hard to manage decline without spiraling into a negative feedback loop. That is, when feelings of hopelessness take root, it becomes exceedingly more difficult to retain and attract people and businesses, breeding more desperation. Perhaps thats why our society has coined the difficult but temporary uncomfortableness that accompanies times of development growing pains while theres no similar common phrase in the American vernacular to shrug off the process of shrinking or dying or rusting over. But I still believe, as many people do, that not only is there a way of life worth saving here, but that it can, indeed, be saved. Southern Illinois isnt going to return to the way it was a half-century ago, and that shouldnt be the goal. At the same time, the solution does not lie in the politics of benign neglect: in hoping the problem might simply be solved by looking the other way. This is why I plan to make an effort to focus more reporting this year on the communities down here. I want to bring light to some of the unique concerns shared by places along Illinois Ohio River Valley that are experiencing increasing economic stress. But I also want to dig deeper to understand the possible solutions and the barriers to achieving them. The city of Harrisburg has issued a boil order for all residents in the following areas: Raymond Street from Main to Mill streets, Mill Street from Sloan to Lincoln streets and Homer Street from Mill Street to East End. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. (CNN) Vogue Brazil style's director Donata Meirelles has stepped down after photography from her 50th birthday party and dinner were criticized for their colonial references to slavery. The furor began when an image, which has since been deleted, emerged on Instagram of Meirelles at her party in Salvador de Bahia, northeast Brazil, sitting on an ornate chair with black womensitting on an ornate chair with black women in traditional dress flanking either side of her. Critics compared the clothes to uniforms worn by slaves and pointed out the chair looked similar to chairs used by slave masters. "The photo clearly and unfortunately refers to a Brazil of autocracy and slavery, where black people were serving and white people tended to," wrote Instagram user Roberto Sakiyama. "I don't see any praise to Afro-Brazilian culture." In a statement to CNN, Vogue Brazil confirmed that Meirelles had resigned and her position of style director "will be extinguished, since it has been designed specifically to her." It wrote that during the seven years as style director, Meirelles "has been extremely important" to shaping "the magazine and (consolidating) Vogue Brazil as a major global force." "With her unique sense of style, which captures the dynamism and joie de vivre of the Brazilian woman as nobody else does, Donata gave new energy to the magazine. We understand and respect her resignation and will be eternally grateful for all the passion and talent she has dedicated to every page she has edited," the statement said. Denial Television presenter Rita Batista explained the historical context behind why so many people were upset by the photography. Batista posted a shot from the party next to an image of two 19th-century slaves flanking their owner, with a caption explaining how in those days "the slave herself was a luxury object to be shown publicly." Meirelles apologized amid the outcry, writing on Instagram that "it wasn't a theme party." The former Vogue Brazil style director denied using any images associated with slavery "but if it looked otherwise, I'm sorry," she said. The magazine also apologized in an Instagram post, where it announced the creation of a permanent forum in which activists and scholars will help define content and images against inequality. "Vogue Brazil apologizes profusely for what happened and hopes that the discussions generated have served as a learning opportunity," it wrote. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Vogue Brazil director resigns over 'slavery party' row" Hehehe. A few people ask why I post my portfolio results every day. Some of them asked rudely, but I shall not call them idiots. Here are... Former congressman Anthony Weiner has been released from federal prison after he was convicted for sexting a 15-year-old girl. He began a 21-month prison sentence in November, 2017 at the Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. Weiner isnt quite a free man yet as he was transferred to a federal re-entry program in New York. It isnt clear exactly where Weiner is right now but he is either in a halfway house or home detention, reports TMZ. Advertisement Weiner was initially scheduled to be released from prison in August 2019 but it had already been announced he would get out earlier. The former congressmans release data was moved forward from August to May 2019 on good conduct. He is now scheduled to finish his sentence on May 14. He will then spend three years on supervised release and will have to register as a sex offender. Advertisement Advertisement Weiner was once a rising star in the Democratic Party but he resigned from Congress in 2011 after he was caught sending sexually explicit photos to women on social media. He then tried a comeback run for mayor of New York City, but his campaign was derailed after he was engulfed by another sexting scandal. He then came under federal investigation for sending sexually explicit photos to an underage girl. The crime I committed was my rock bottom, but I am truly grateful that it finally began me on my recovery, Weiner said at his sentencing hearing. I was a very sick man for a very long time, but Im also responsible for the damage I have done. Your Honor, I have a disease, but I have no excuse. 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. Let Black Hawk Colleges financial aid professionals assist you in completing your 2019-20 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSA Completion Night will be Thursday, Feb. 28, from 4-7 p.m. at the Quad-Cities Campus, 6600 34th Ave., Moline, in Building 1 in the ESL Computer Lab (below the library). This service is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Black Hawk College Financial Aid Office at finaid@bhc.edu or 309-796-5400. Join foodie bus trip to Chicago Food enthusiasts are invited to visit Chicagos ethnic neighborhood foodie hot spots Thursday, March 7 with Black Hawk College. The Chicago Ethnic Food Shopping Excursion will leave at 7 a.m. from the colleges Outreach Center in East Moline and return around 7 p.m. Cost is $90. The registration deadline is Wednesday, Feb. 27. Prep for SAT exam with class High school students can prepare for the SAT exam by taking the SAT Exam Preparation course. The course will cover test-taking tips, calculator usage and content for the writing and language, reading and math sections. 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 There is a lot to be discussed, as we learned this past week. There has been an ongoing and vibrant discussion locally and nationally about health care coverage for individuals, but what has not been part of the discussion is the effect health care coverage especially the payouts from federal programs can have on community hospitals like Glens Falls. When the future of your local hospital might be at stake, the issue is way more important than politics. Its time for us to light a fire under our representatives to get them looking at some realistic solutions. Weve been told for years to avoid emergency room visits as a way of combating increases in insurance premiums. But fewer emergency room visits have reduced hospital revenues. We have already seen the impact in recent months with the hospital cutting back on hours at primary care centers in Salem and Granville, while closing its Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit and its Center for Occupational Health in an effort to reduce losses. The hospital is also pushing forward with an affiliation with Albany Medical Center. Since both hospitals are currently going through due diligence for this endeavor, hospital administrators say they have not been able to even talk specifics about how they can help each other. FORT EDWARD Whitehall business owner Joe Kelly asked Washington County Board of Supervisors on Friday to consider selling recreational marijuana in liquor stores when it becomes legal. Please, educate yourself and lets get in on the tax dollars, said Kelly, explaining the various tax incentives. If its sold in the liquor stores, they are all Mom and Pops, and it will stay with small businesses rather than become commercialized. Kelly explained that if legal recreational marijuana is sold in liquor stores, more tax dollars would come into the county because if the state restricts sales to medical marijuana dispensaries, there are none located in the county. The closest one is in Albany, he said. Several supervisors asked Kelly questions about the issue, including how much it might cost and the tax percentage to the county. Kelly said as far as he knew, 2 percent would stay local and 4 percent would go to the county. In an earlier interview, Kelly said that he had been contacting county supervisors about this issue. I dont want to be blocked by my county, he said. I am tired of losing out. Ti thrift shop will have half-price sale TICONDEROGA The Thrift Shop at the Ticonderoga First United Methodist Church will have a half-price clearance sale on all winter mens and womens clothing from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday in the lower level of the church fellowship wing at 1045 Wicker St. Household treasures with orange tags will also be half price. Find pants, sweaters, shoes and many other pieces of clothing for just $1 each. Be sure to shop early for the best selection. Open year round, the shop is staffed entirely by volunteers. Donations are accepted when the shop is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays. An after-hours receptacle is available for clothing donations in bags. Boxed donations, especially breakables, should only be brought to the shop when it is open. Nothing should be left outside. Call 518-585-2242 for more information, to leave a message or to make an appointment. Wood Foundation taking applications Ten students have submitted designs, and board member Kendra Schieber said in a release she was pleased with what she has seen so far. The quality of the creative work that has been done is truly remarkable, excellent work, Schieber said. Mosca will also host a karaoke night on Friday, Feb. 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Corinth High School to raise more funds for Adirondack Center Stage. Cambridge superintendent hunt Cambridge Central School District is closing in on a new superintendent to replace the retiring Vincent Canini at the end of the school year. The Cambridge Board of Education has already had the first round of interviews with four candidates, and the next round will take place in early March, according to Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES Superintendent Jim Dexter. Dexter said this round of interviews will be done by community stakeholders who include parents, teachers, students, support staff and others. There will be two groups of 12 interviewers each to evaluate the candidates and make their recommendations to the board. He also said the online surveys the district put out were very helpful in narrowing down the kinds of candidates the board should be looking for. We got a lot of feedback from the online survey, Dexter said, And from my perspective, we were happy so many people from the community chimed in on what they wanted to see. Samuel Northrop is the education reporter for The Post-Star. He can be reached at snorthrop@poststar.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SARATOGA SPRINGS Roberta Blakeman Fishbeck died at home on Feb. 13, 2019, she was 91. Roberta was born in Kokomo, Indiana to Buford and Mary Heddleston Blakeman. When she was four, the family moved to a farm just outside Lexington, Kentucky, where she spent the majority of her childhood and adolescence. She graduated from Wilmore High School and then Asbury College, now Asbury University. On Sept. 16, 1948, she married the Reverend Royal B. Fishbeck Jr.. After he graduated from Drew Theological seminary in 1953, they moved to Eagle Mills. Reverend Fishbeck was a member of the Troy Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church until his death in March 2009. They lived in Eagle Mills, Amsterdam, Slingerlands, Troy and Saratoga Springs, as well as 12 years in Dayton, Ohio, where Reverend Fishbeck was on the staff of the General Council on Ministries. Roberta was a warm and welcoming woman who forged a special connection with everyone she met. Among her most prized titles were wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, friend and confidant. To those of us who knew and loved her, Roberta was an endless source of love, support, acceptance and inspiration. She always had a calming voice, a supportive ear, a firm hand, an easy laugh, and a warm cup of tea for anyone that needed it. January 29, 1934 February 12, 2019 QUEENSBURY Joan Elizabeth Newman, 85, died on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019 at her home in Queensbury. She was born on Jan. 29, 1934 in Glens Falls to Leland and Frances Lyons. Joan graduated from Friends Central High School in Philadelphia and was a graduate of St. Lawrence University, Class of 56. She married her one true love, Jack Newman, in June of 1956. They began their married life together in Glens Falls and returned to the town they loved in 1985. During her life, she lived several places throughout New York state and dedicated herself to volunteering and helping others. She volunteered with The Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, nursing homes, and Caritas, Inc. She was employed for several years with BOCES as an assistant childcare instructor as well as a substitute teacher in the public schools. Joans kindness and consideration of others set her apart. She had a beautiful smile and eyes that sparkled and people who met her felt her warmth. She was an amazing cook who would always make favorite dishes for family gatherings. Joan was known for her delicious pies and would often bake them for others who needed their spirits lifted. Joan was predeceased by her husband, Jack Newman. October 27, 1960 February 15, 2019 GLENS FALLS Deborah Debbie Annette (Champion) Hill, went into the arms of the Lord on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019 at Glens Falls Hospital, surrounded by her loving family. Born on Oct. 27, 1960 in Glens Falls, she was the daughter of Mary O. (VanVranken) Champion and the late George H. Champion. Debbie graduated from Glens Falls High School in 1978. She was a lifelong dedicated member of the First Baptist Church of Glens Falls, where she was a Sunday School Teacher. Debbie was on the Board of Christian Education, the Music Committee, Pastoral Search Committee, Vacation Bible School and also the Worship Board. She retired in 2016 from Glens Falls City School District, after 24 years of service, where she worked at Big Cross Street School as a Teachers Aide. While at Big Cross, she was a Building Representative for the Glens Falls School District Support Staff Association. Debbie was much loved by the children and her co-workers. She was a light to all who knew her. Debbie was an active member of the PTA at Big Cross School and at Glens High School where she held the position of President. She was also the PTA Vice President at the Glens Falls Middle School. Trump repeatedly charged during the campaign that China was manipulating its currency, when all along China was selling off U.S. Treasury notes to prop it up. As to the debt, after years of screaming that the debt would destroy our economy (it did not), the Republicans passed a tax bill designed to add greatly to it, which Trump gleefully signed. This week, when the commonwealths attorneys office tried to dismiss charges in one possession case, Circuit Court Judge Mary Jane Hall rebuffed the motion, saying, I believe this is an attempt to usurp the power of the state legislature. This is a decision that must be made by the General Assembly, not by the commonwealths attorneys office. "We knew it was going to end, and it did way more than it should have," he said. "And it died because Mars sort of threw this dust storm at it. No one screwed up, no one sent a bad command. Mars said it was time to stop." Members of the Boys Club of Norfolk celebrate Valentine's Day on Feb. 13, 1953, with a party at their Colonial Avenue facility. Nearly 500 boys and girls attended. They sipped soft drinks and danced until the early evening. Carnival booth games were a popular attraction, and winners were rewarded with a ticket that was worth a piece of candy. Five reward tickets bought the lucky prizewinner a chocolate bar. The school's project to provide free glasses to fellow students impressed the judges of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest. The team beat hundreds of entrants to win the Virginia competition for the second year running. Deep Creek will now be up against 50 other state winners in the nationals. The competition asks students and teachers to tackle real problems using science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. The written portion accounted for about 45 percent of overall grading for the scholarship, Hedger said. It was the second year of the Air Force-level initiative, which was launched to address both a military and civilian shortage of pilots, he said. "Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution?" Trump said on Twitter. "Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!" Iraqi youth at computers in "The Station", Baghdad's incubator for would-be entrepreneurs Stuck between an endless waitlist for a government job and a frail private sector, Iraqi entrepreneurs are taking on staggering unemployment by establishing their own start-ups. The first murmurs of this creative spirit were felt in 2013, but the Islamic State group's sweep across a third of the country the following year put many projects on hold. Now, with IS defeated, co-working spaces and incubators are flourishing in a country whose unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent but whose public sector is too bloated to hire. Many self-starters begin their journey at an aptly named glass building in central Baghdad: The Station. There, they sip on coffee, peruse floor-to-ceiling bookshelves for ideas and grab a seat at clusters of desks where other stylish Iraqis click away at their laptops. "We're trying to create a new generation with a different state of mind," said executive director Haidar Hamzoz. "We want to tell youth that they can start their own project, achieve their dreams and not just be happy in a government job they didn't even want," he told AFP. Youth make up around 60 percent of Iraq's nearly 40 million people. After graduating from university, many spend years waiting to be appointed to a job in the government, Iraq's biggest employer. The building in central Baghdad called "The Station" is where self-starters begin to create their own project in a country with high youth unemployment Four out of five jobs created in Iraq in recent years are in the public sector, according to the World Bank. And in its 2019 budget, the government proposed $52 billion in salaries, pensions, and social security for its workersa 15 percent jump from 2018 and more than half the total budget. But with graduates entering the workforce faster than jobs are created, many still wait indefinitely for work. Among youth, 17 percent of men and a whopping 27 percent of women are unemployed, the World Bank says. After IS, innovation reigns When IS declared Mosul its seat of power in Iraq back in 2014, resident Saleh Mahmud was forced to shutter the city's incubator for would-be entrepreneurs. Among Iraqi youth, 17 percent of men and 27 percent of women are unemployed, according to the World Bank With Mosul now cautiously rebuilding after the jihadists were ousted in 2017, Mahmud is back in business. "Around 600-700 youth have already passed by Mosul Space" to attend a seminar or seek out resources as they start their own ventures, said the 23-year-old. He was inspired after watching fellow Mosul University graduates hopelessly "try to hunt down a connection to get a job in the public sphere." "A university education isn't something that gets you a fulfilling job," he said. Another start-up, Dakkakena, is capitalising on Mosul's rebuilding spirit, too. The online shopping service delivers a lorry-full of home goods every day to at least a dozen families refurnishing after the war. Iraqi youth are also participating in the "Mosul Space", that city's incubator for would-be entrepreneurs in northern Iraq "On the web, we can sell things for cheaper than stores because we have fewer costs, like no showrooms," said founder Yussef al-Noaime, 27. Noaime fled IS to the Netherlands, where he was introduced to e-commerce. When he returned home, the computer engineer partnered with another local to found their venture. A similar service, Miswag, was set-up in the capital Baghdad in 2014 and last year reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits. Banks and big dreams On an autumn day, some 70 young Iraqi innovators converged for a three-day workshop in Baghdad on founding start-ups. They flitted among round tables planning projects, their Arabic conversations sprinkled with English terms. Some 70 young Iraqi innovators attended a recent three-day workshop in Baghdad on founding start-ups "What we're doing is showing youth what entrepreneurship isnot necessarily so they succeed, but so they at least try," said organiser Ibrahim al-Zarari. He said attendees should understand two things: first, that the public sector is saturated. And second, that oil isn't the only resource on which IraqOPEC's second-largest producershould capitalise. More than 65 percent of Iraq's GDP and nearly 90 percent of state revenues hail from the oil sector. Many youth turn to it for work, but it only employs one percent of the workforce. Widespread corruption and bureaucracy also weaken Iraq's appeal for private investors. The World Bank ranks it 168th out of 190 for states with a good business environment. Under current legislation, private sector employees are not offered the same labour protections or social benefits as those in the public sector. And Iraq's stuttering banking industry appears too cautious to dive in, said Tamara Raad, 26, who researches start-ups. After graduating from university, many Iraqi youths spend years waiting to be appointed to a job in the government, Iraq's biggest employer. "The banks have a role to play. They must make loans without interest and help young entrepreneurs," she said. Banks or no banks, Mahmud in Mosul is already planning how he'll grow his business in 2019. "We will open a new, larger space for new gatherings," he said excitedly, to bring together returning designers, developers and other inventors. Explore further Iraqi entrepreneurs find business success in smartphone apps 2019 AFP Bankoni. Equestrian and Four Figures. Mali. 1175-1500. Credit: Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment On February 16, the Art Institute of Chicago announced the results of significant new research on five terracotta sculpturesso named Bankoni after a village in present-day Mali where they were found. The objects date from between the 12th and 15th centuries. This places them "among the oldest surviving sculptures from sub-Saharan Africa and among the oldest works of African art in the Art Institute's collection beyond Egypt," according to Constantine Petridis, Chair of the Arts of the Americas and Africa and Curator of African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute's Bankoni figures are exceptional, not only for their large size and fine detail, but also for the fact that they have remained as a group throughout history (whereas others have been dispersed). The group's inclusion in a major traveling exhibition, Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa, presented the Art Institute's Conservation & Science department with an unprecedented opportunity to expand on previous scientific analysis using cutting-edge technology made possible by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. "Thanks to our long-standing relationship with Dr. Michael Vannier, a radiologist at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, we were able to use computed axial tomography or CT scanningwhich is basically an X-ray but in 3-Dto closely examine the ceramic," said Rachel Sabino, Objects Conservator in the Department of Conservation & Science at the Art Institute of Chicago. "As each figure went through the scanner we were able to see immediately that they had all been created with the exact same clay and with the exact same fabrication methods. This confirmed for us that our five were conceived as a group from the start and that they aren't figures from different places or different potters." The results also verified that the sculptures were not "pastiches" made from unrelated fragments of the appropriate age, as is sometimes discovered to be the case with ancient ceramics. Additionally, 3-D models generated from the CT data helped pinpoint locations for sample sites to use in thermoluminescence (TL) testing, a specialized technique for dating ceramics. The TL results revealed that the objects were fired between 500 and 800 years ago, older than previous testing had indicated. These types of collaborations between museums and hospitals have expanded the conservator's toolkit by giving them access to the most advanced technologies and to equipment that would be otherwise unavailable. Their medical partners' specialized knowledge guarantees that conservators have the best instrumental protocol available to find answers to their questions and that the results will be interpreted accurately. "The encyclopedic collection at the Art Institute of Chicago serves as a reference standard for both scholars and the general public, so it's crucial that the objects on display in service to a museum's educational and social mission be what they purport to be. To that end, we are absolutely thrilled at the extent to which this partnership has allowed us to see just how ancient, how unique and how exceptional our figures really are," said Sabino. Provided by The Art Institute of Chicago China hopes that the United States and Russia will return to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a senior Chinese official said here Saturday. Yang Jiechi , center, arrives for a bilateral meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. [Photo: AP] Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks after delivering a keynote speech at the 55th Munich Security Conference. Yang said that China firmly advocates maintaining global strategic stability. The unilateral declaration by the United States to withdraw from the INF Treaty has serious consequences, and has drawn widespread concern from the international community, he said. China hopes that the United States and Russia can get back to the INF Treaty and is opposed to the multilateralization of the treaty, Yang said. This folk-art carving of President Abraham Lincoln was made from a tree stump in the late 1800s. It is 47 inches tall. The sculpture sold for $1,800 at a recent Garths auction. A critical drama about an Israeli expatriate in Paris wrestling with his identity, "Synonyms" by director Nadav Lapid, won the Golden Bear top prize at the Berlin film festival Saturday. Lapid said the sexually explicit, semi-autobiographical movie, which deals with a young man who has fled Israel over its fraught political situation, might "scandalise" many in his home country as well as France. "I hope that people will not look only at this film as a kind of harsh or radical political statement because it's not," he told reporters after accepting the prize from jury president Juliette Binoche. "First of all, it's a human and existential and artistic statement. The film is also a celebration and a party, a celebration of cinema." The runner-up jury prize went to French filmmaker Francois Ozon for "By the Grace of God", a wrenching drama based on real-life survivors of rampant sexual molestation in the Catholic church. "The film tries to break the silence in powerful institutions," he said. "I want to share this prize with the victims of sexual abuse." Ozon noted that the film's release in France, scheduled for next week, was facing a legal challenge, which he blasted as an attempt at "censorship". - 'Make sense of history' - The stars of moving Chinese epic "So Long, My Son", Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei, about the lasting impact of the country's now abandoned one-child policy, shared the Silver Bear top acting prizes. "This is the tragedy of a woman, a family that loses its son," Yong said as she picked up her trophy. "We were happy we were able to complete the film." Binoche had earlier expressed "regret" that another Chinese film, veteran Zhang Yimou's "One Second", was pulled from the competition reportedly due to official censorship. "Zhang has been an essential voice in international cinema," she said. "We need artists who help us make sense of history." German filmmaker Angela Schanelec, one of a record seven women out of 16 contenders in competition, won the best director prize for "I Was At Home, But", a drama about a teenager who returns after a week-long disappearance to his mother, a grieving widow. "Piranhas" by Italian director Claudio Giovannesi about the youth of Naples being indoctrinated at ever earlier ages into the mafia won best screenplay. Roberto Saviano, who co-wrote the script based on his book "La Paranza dei Bambini", dedicated the trophy to NGOs working to save the lives of refugees in the Mediterranean. "Telling the truth has become very complex in our country so thank you," he said. The awards ceremony at the 69th Berlinale began with a tribute and standing ovation for the late Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who starred in iconic German films such as "Downfall" in which he played Adolf Hitler and Wim Wenders's "Wings of Desire" set in divided Berlin. - 'Wilfully confrontational satire' - "Synonyms" is the third feature by Lapid, whose previous film "The Kindergarten Teacher" has been remade in the US starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. The movie, which delves into the deep ambivalence of the young Yoav about both his birth country Israel and adopted homeland of France, divided critics. The picture is centred around "newcomer Tom Mercier, who delivers a raw, disconcerting and altogether unpredictable turn that recalls the work of a young Tom Hardy (this includes his ability to act without any clothes on)," the Hollywood Reporter wrote. Yoav won't allow himself to speak Hebrew so he communicates in a kind of pidgin French he's cobbled together from a dictionary. He tells largely disinterested Parisians that he has left Israel to get away from a country that he finds "repugnant, fetid, obscene, vulgar" ?- words that help give the film its title. When Yoav runs into money trouble, he advertises his services as a nude model. An artist who answers the post pays him to perform sexual acts on himself while shouting in Hebrew. His periodic run-ins with nationalistic Israeli security officers from the embassy prove similarly absurd. US website Indie wire called the movie a "wilfully confrontational satire that pugnaciously mocks his own Israeli identity; the culture of France, where Lapid lived at the start of this century; and assorted conventions and decorums of art cinema". Berlin film festival jury president Juliette Binoche with Israeli director Nadav Lapid holding his best film Golden bear Home | World | Africa | How can we rebuild our national consciousness when we do not have our own currency? The case for the return of the Zimbabwe doll Zimbabwe has sixteen official languages set out in section six of the Zimbabwe Constitution. In terms of that esteemed document our country is a Christian nation. It respects Christian values and upholds Christian milestones such as monogamy, marriage, right to life and many other values. The preamble to our constitution expressly stipulates that: "We the people of Zimbabwe, United in our diversity by our common desire for freedom, justice and equality, and our heroic resistance to colonialism, racism and all forms of domination and oppression, Exalting and extolling the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives during the Chimurenga / Umvukela and national liberation struggles, Honouring our forebears and compatriots who toiled for the progress of our country, Recognising the need to entrench democracy, good, transparent and accountable governance and the rule of law, Reaffirming our commitment to upholding and defending fundamental human rights and freedoms, Acknowledging the richness of our natural resources, Celebrating the vibrancy of our traditions and cultures, Determined to overcome all challenges and obstacles that impede our progress, Cherishing freedom, equality, peace, justice, tolerance, prosperity and patriotism in search of new frontiers under a common destiny, Acknowledging the supremacy of Almighty God, in whose hands our future lies, Resolve by the tenets of this Constitution to commit ourselves to build a united, just and prosperous nation, founded on values of transparency, equality, freedom, fairness, honesty and the dignity of hard work, And, imploring the guidance and support of Almighty God, hereby make this Constitution and commit ourselves to it as the fundamental law of our beloved land" Our Chimurenga imvukela was fought for our freedom. It united us in our quest for freedom and democracy. It brought one man one vote. A systematic method of political contestation which was popular in the 1970s to the 1980s and widely touted as the epitome of democracy and good governance. This model of contestation failed to give us economic freedom. It did not assist us to redistribute our land equally. In short, we had to wrestle it from a small white minority and restore it to the black majority, it had been violently seized from. Violence is abhorrent, it begets violence. It is never an answer. The use of unorthodox means, that of using violence lost us the high moral ground as the deserving survivors of historical and colonial imbalances. It has earned us the ire and condemnation of our colonial masters. Who then in the typical Bible verses sword style invoked the sword of international condemnation and restrictive economic measures, the infamous Zimbabwe Democracy Recovery Act of 2001? We fast forward to August 2018. We have a government that spends beyond its means. The fiscal indiscipline that prevails continue to see our nation importing trinkets that doesn't benefit the man in the street. The internal party factionalism that has characterised the ruling political party after the elections has seen a divided government that appears to be pulling in different directions. Across the political divide we have an opposition that is bereft of an ideological foundation that can be sold to the people of Zimbabwe as an alternative narrative. An opposition that is more interested in joining the fast diminishing gravy train. So, where are we as Zimbabwe. Our beloved Zimbabwe dollar was killed by us, by our former colonial masters who even now want to return and show us who is boss. As citizens, do we know that there is no greater advertisement for a country than the images on its national currency. Consider the Victoria Falls, the balancing rocks of Epworth, the Kariba Dam, a cheeky tsuromangen'a on a five-cent coin to remind us of ngano dzatsuro nagudo that we were all raised on. Consider all the images on all currencies or pseudo currencies that we have ever had. Then consider Queen Elizabeth's head on the pound sterling, Benjamin Franklin on the USD and his significance in American history. Consider a South African using the Rand and how proudly South African it makes them feel. Then consider other African countries who have joined the rand monetary union and subjected their own currencies to the South African Rand as if that's not humiliating enough. Consider, a Zimbabwean using not only the USD but a basket of currencies. Who feels nothing when looking at an image of Benjamin Franklin? Imagine using the currency of the country who's so called restrictive economic measures is compounding your misery as a person. A country robbing you of your dignity, your pride, all in your name contributing to your decimation as a people.To bring you democracy. Human rights. Good leaders who love you and your country so much they beg your former coloniser to increase your misery so that when elections come around again. If you still alive. You will vote RIGHT. So, our national pride as a people, black, white, Indian, Ndebele, Venda, Chewa or Shona, our collective psyche, as a people, born in the house of stone. It has been so eroded such that it no longer exists. We are happy as long as we get paid. We are willing to lie, beg, steal, cheat and sell our mothers for some foreign currency. Who amongst us is willing to lie, beg, cheat, borrow or die for Zimbabwe? Not me! Those who died to liberate us from oppression died and they are not coming back ever. Why should I be a martyr and die for all of you? Why should I make sacrifices when you are pouring sand into every effort to free Zimbabwe from the tentacles of neo colonialism? Why should I die for you so that you can mortgage our country to our former political but current oppressors? Why should I cry when I remember that some people way back then were raped, murdered and extinguished for daring to resit marauding hordes of so-called settlers with divine right on their side, the bible in the left hand and the gun in the right. I turned the other cheek. I am born again. I forgave them. But dear God, can I not have just one little thing to remind my future progeny, my descendants. That they are Zimbabwean, maybe not proudly so at the moment. This generation is taking a beating. But tomorrow, what will be left of us to show future Zimbabweans that we fought a good fight. In our lifetime. To remember who we are. Mari inechitema. Money is the root of all evil. My case is we should bring our own currency. It identifies who we are as a nation. It divides us because we all want it to have value, but currently that value is non-existent. I will end with a stanza from our national anthem, our anthem, our flag, our constitution, our own currency, our Zimbabwe. Bring back our Zimbabwe dollar. Mwari ropafadzai nyika yeZimbabwe, Nyika yamadzitateguru edu tose; Kubva Zambezi kusvika Limpopo, Navatungamiri vave nenduramo; Ngaikomborerwe nyika yeZimbabwe. This is an emotive piece, it is not about statistics or economics or the United Nations or the International Criminal Court. It is about a country, once proud, now lost, no bearings, no moral compass, its citizens have lost their patriotism. Their sense of pride in themselves. They have no confidence in their leaders in the land of their birth. We don't carry our flag everywhere, but we surely carry currency in our wallets wherever we go. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Loading... All those who love peace and justice and understand the need to end the long suffering of the people of Zimbabwe after 38 years and counting of this Zanu PF dictatorship will hearty welcomes EU Parliament recent resolutions designed to the Zanu PF dictatorship. After 38 years of blatant human rights violations and tyrannical rule; it is now clear that the modus operandi of this Zanu PF regime is to do whatever it deems necessary, regardless of the law and even the sanctity of human life, to secure power. Present the nation and the world at large with a fait accompli of a Zanu PF government and only then make whatever promises and concession as long as they do not compromise the party's hold on power. When President Mnangagwa seized power from Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup he and his fellow coup plotters were aware the national community would not welcome this blatant act of banditry, ever against a despised tyrant and a dictator. Those in the know dismissed the coup plotter's claim that this was a democratic transformation since the plotters were themselves Mugabe's henchmen who had used brute force to establish and retain the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship all the last 37 years. Mnangagwa had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections in the wake of the military coup to take the sting out of the condemnation of his regime as illegitimate. It should be noted that never implemented not even one meaningful democratic reform necessary for free and fair elections. "Whereas the final report of the EU EOM states that the figures presented by the ZEC contained many anomalies and inaccuracies and raised enough questions to lead to doubts as to the accuracy and reliability of the numbers presented," EU Parliament rightfully stated in its resolution. The vote rigging was so blatant the regime has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters roll. There can be no doubt that Zanu PF rigged last July's elections and real danger here is to fall into the party's trap of accepting it as the de facto government regardless of it having no democratic mandate. Mnangagwa and his regime are illegitimate and no one, inside Zimbabwe or outside, should make the mistake of recognising the regime as legitimate. No one! This Zanu PF regime must be pressure to step down for four reasons: a. Zimbabwe is facing serious economic meltdown that has resulted in tragic human suffering and deaths and there is no hope of any meaningful economic recovery as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Another year of this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule is unthinkable much less four years to 2023, when the next elections are due. b. If this Zanu PF regime remains in power till 2023, be it as the ruling party or partner in a new GNU, the party will see to it that no meaningful reforms are implemented regardless of all the promises the party makes. We can be certain of one thing then, Zanu PF will rig the 2023 elections and once again present the nation with a fait accompli Zanu PF government. We have seen Zanu PF do this again and again these last 38 years; for the country to move forward we need to break this vicious cycle of Zanu PF rigging elections, use brute violence to cow the nation into subservient submission, promise reform to gain legitimacy and remain in office only to rig the next elections. c. Zanu PF must be pressure to step down because it rig the elections and is therefore illegitimate. The party has rigged so many elections in the past and got away with it the party leaders now assume they have a right to rig elections. We should not call for free, fair and credible elections and then fail to punish those who rig elections! d. Zanu PF must step down to create the political space and time for the appointing of an interim administration tasked to implemented the democratic reforms necessary to dismantle the Zanu PF autocracy and replace it with a healthy and functional democratic system of government. The call to bring back the sanctions against Zanu PF leaders is a welcome move. "Calls on the European Council to review its restrictive measures against individuals and entities in Zimbabwe, including those measures currently suspended, in the light of accountability for recent state violence," said the EU parliament." See Spotlight-z.com for the full EU resolution. It is important that the sanctions are imposed as soon as possible, the political situation is Zimbabwe is dire and time is costing tragic human suffering and lives! The sanctions should be hard-hitting. Zanu PF leaders family, friends and supporters continued to enjoy their extravagant lifestyles under the last sanctions, this must stop. Zanu PF has recruited academics and professionals to be the regime's representatives, people like Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and Minister Kirsty Coventry. They must all be included in the new and tougher sanctions list! There are opposition politicians too who have continue to participate in Zimbabwe's flawed and illegal elections in total disregard of the warning that doing so only gave the process some modicum of credibility. In the past some of these opposition politicians have called for sanctions but only to help Zanu PF rig the elections by contesting the flawed elections. All those playing any part in perpetuating the curse of rigged elections must be included in the new sanctions regime Home | World | Africa | Tafataona Mahoso: A man of many hats Rupise: Poetry of Love, Separation and Reunion 1977-2017; By Tafataona Mahoso; Mutare, Samwasika Heritage Products. 136 Pages ISBN: 978-1-7706-070-9 (Paperback) INDEED Tafataona Mahoso, an academic in his own right, is a man who wears so many hats, with many not even aware of the artist in him. Says Mahoso to the Daily News on Sunday; "I was in the same class at St Augustine's with (the late) Dambudzo Marechera. We crossed paths at Oxford in the 1970s but never met again." Marechera is, without doubt, one of Zimbabwe's best known artists, but one who left the scene too early but perhaps the Oxford interaction for Mahoso may have apprenticed him into a refinement of the Romantic and Victorian epochs of verse. Rupise: Poetry of Love, Separation and Reunion 1977-2017 - which is available at Innov8 and National Gallery bookshops in Harare and Sleek Media - reflects an accomplishment of how tone and feeling in poetry can help create meaning. For Mahoso - an accomplished poet whose first anthology Footprints About the Bantustan was published in 1989 - elements of form and structure combine with stylistic devices to communicate meaning. The symbolism of Rupise - hot spring or geyser - is something drawn from Manicaland, where Mahoso hails from. Because of the geographical reality of Rupise, placed "variously at Chakohwa, Nyanyadzi, Save and Lower Odzi, all in Chimanimani", according to the preface, there an element of realism that sets in the poetry. Something very striking comes to the mind of the reader; the water that is found in the hot springs is hot but is always there in the very same form. Water, in most cases, is seen as nourishing, giving life and living. Water in the poetry of Rupise is not different; it is life-giving. In the poetry anthology, Rupise symbolises the ideal love relationship that is "deep, enduring, faithful, inexhaustible" in the same way we see the heat in the water from the hotspring - forever hot and forever there - whose energy source is not "rationed by meter or subject to load-shedding". In one of the poems "Before You Appeared in My life" the persona says: Before you appeared I was not sure What I wanted in or with a woman: The allure of your dark dreamy eyes Rooted in ancient memory and primordial passion, Like the charged aftermath of lightning Just earthed and disappeared in dark deep soil. (p2) It appears there is an admission that there now is a change after meeting this woman. He says "I feared my own imagination Like a child surprised by its own giant shadow At sunrise and sunset." (p2) The comparison with the "surprised child" carried in the simile "like a child surprised" is effective in giving a vivid picture of the timidity hitherto evident in the persona before. The visual image of the giant shadow appeals to the sense of sight and gets the reader visualising how huge the threat was. Although not widespread, the use of alliteration as in "Deep and dark mud stuck" creates interesting rhythm. As opposed to prose, poetry usually expresses the inner self, conversations that may be taking place within the self on a variety of issues and experiences. Rupise therefore becomes Mahoso's expression of his feelings on the subject of love. Poetry is divided into distinct sections - each standing for a unique set of poems - making it easy for the reader to follow through. There are five sections: Unlit Lanterns, Separation, Rupise: Where, When Does Love Stay?, Lifefolds and Gleanings. Traditionally, in the writer's own admission and consistent with older generations boys and girls could actually swim together, undressed in the same pool without arousing the other sexually. No one would be raped or molested, a striking difference with what we see today. A girl dressed in a tight mini catches the attention of everyone around and there are whistles from all directions as people hurl obscenities at her. Mainini Rupise is said to have been older than the writer and others and "remained selfless and disciplined enough not to take advantage of our sexual vulnerabilities". Most readers still need to be reminded that poetry is best read quietly, aloud for one to understand the various technical aspects that add to the ultimate and overall enjoyment of the art genre. Poetic devices like the simile, imagery, comparison, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration and other obscure ones like metre among others have the best impact when poetry is read so. In other words, they become optimally effective when the reader interacts with the art form quietly, aloud. Ideally, it is the spoken word and as such is best heard. The poem "Waiting" in the section titled Separation is an example of those that show distance between the lovers. "Your absence lingers, a series of El Nino droughts; But my love is a miracle seed, life's selfless desire To thrive with little outside driver except your returns in kind." (p19) The image of the El Nino just to show the sense of loneliness caused by the lover's absence combines well with the "miracle seed" just to show the determination in the persona to continue loving despite the distance between them. "My Love, My Beauty" in the third section, Rupise: Where, when, does love stay? "Your beauty exudes from the molten core Of your substance, Moisturising every pore of your skin, Radiant skin so provocative to view by day And to touch by night." (p38) The imagery used in this poetry is very powerful as seen in "the molten core", "moisturising every pore of your skin" and "radiant skin". Throughout the poetry, Mahoso makes extensive use of imagery that helps to make the poetry understood better. A comprehensive analysis of the poetry in Rupise may not be possible here. This is not to suggest that interpretations proffered herein are cast in stone. Every reader is bound to react differently to the poetry but there is one thing no one can take away from the anthology - the fact that it carries real poetry, in short it is a manifestation of master craftsmanship. The anthology is a must for any bookshelf and could have been a choice for a Valentine's Day gift for any lovers, at least those who love reading about love. Mahoso is the current chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Media Commission, regular columnist in the Sunday Mail and visiting lecturer at the Zimbabwe Film and Television School for southern Africa. He holds a BA degree in Literature and History from Roberts Wesleyan College in the United States, an MA degree in Literature from Ohio University (USA) as well as a PhD in African Studies and History from Temple University, again in the US. Formerly director of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe until 1992, Mahoso also served as principal lecturer and head of the Division of Mass Communication until 2001. He has another poetry anthology Footprints About the Bantustan, published in 1989. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Loading... Home | World | Africa | Anger at Mnangagwa over CEOs snub President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday cancelled his planned trip to attend the CEO Africa Roundtable in Victoria Falls, amid a worsening economic crisis stirring resentment to his rule. He cited a meeting with diplomats held in Harare on Thursday as the reason and also attributed the cancellation to the ongoing formation of a Presidential Advisory Council formed to help him in formulating key economic policies and strategies that advance his so-called Vision 2030. The council comprises leaders of a variety of major Zimbabwean corporations, entrepreneurs, business executives, intellectuals and church leaders. Asked why the president did not pitch up for the invitation-only annual business meeting, Mnangagwa's spokesperson George Charamba told the Daily News: "For the simple reason that he had a fixture with diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe yesterday, and also because his Advisory Council is convening pretty soon to, among other issues, work on a framework for the next indaba with business. He may have missed a fixture, he has not spurned a constituency." The usual caravan of business leaders, ministers, parliamentarians, academics and journalists had trekked into the resort town for their annual February get-together, but the man everyone was talking about was 707km away, officially opening the 12th Zimbabwe International Research Symposium 2019 organised by the Research Council of Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa was supposed to be the "Guest of Honour", billed to make a presentation on the closing day of the forum, which ran under the theme "From talk to unified action: Towards a more responsible and inclusive national economy." One CEO told the Daily News of Mnangagwa's snub: "It feels like Hamlet without the prince." That, bluntly, is how the CEO Africa Roundtable feels this year, he said. Mnangagwa and his Finance minister Mthuli Ncube are dominating proceedings. A survey of business executives conducted showed that companies are worried by Mnangagwa's austerity measures and currency rhetoric. In Mnangagwa's absence, it has been left to senior members of his administration - the Speaker Jacob Mudenda, and Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology minister Amon Murwira - to fly his administration's flag. Predictably, the concerns are strongest in the business community given the slowing economic growth blamed on Mnangagwa's economic stewardship. There is talk here of the need to ensure that currency reforms work for everyone. One CEO said he had hoped the new president's reign would mean stronger growth and higher corporate earnings. There is also a sense that Mnangagwa is not effectively leading the country on economic issues, amid indications he and the business community have become distant and now have a strained relationship. Mnangagwa attended the forum last year where his neck tie was auctioned off for a staggering $15 000. After letting go of the tie, which he came putting on from Harare, Mnangagwa was offered an American flag-designed replacement, which he put on immediately. Oswell Bimha, the CEO Africa Roundtable chairperson, told the Daily News the forum was at fault in Mnangagwa's no-show. "Look, when you invite the president, traditionally we have just written directly to his office and we have had to host him, but this time around we have been told we were supposed to follow a certain pattern which we accept we should have followed," Bimha said. "He is our number one CEO. There is an acknowledgement around the table that we have not followed the right protocol but we still are going to, after this, go back to our president because it does not make the outcome of this conference less important. "We still need to engage him out of the collective that we would have come up with. So, next year, we will do the right thing, we will do the correct processes. "We want to assure the president whatever bungling up of the process, it is not disrespect. We are not all part of the protocol processes done within these circles but certainly we expect him to be with us next year." Asked if the president had sent apologies, Bimha said: "We have failed to do the procedure." Asked to outline the procedure, he said: "The procedure is that we are supposed to write to our parent minister, our parent minister then requests the president or through whatever channels at the president's office. So, we did write directly to them, and writing directly to them, we did write on time and we are still wanting to be educated on how else we could have done it so that we could be educated on the process but also getting the president to create time on his busy schedule to come''. Bimha also said there was also a scheduling conflict. "There are also critical issues that are happening within the president's diary at this time which have coincided with this, so there is a combination of issues. And sadly, on behalf of the roundtable, we are very saddened that we couldn't have him this time around." Asked what will happen to the forum's economic reform lobby document, "Call to action", Bimha said: "Very, very, urgently, our Call to Action document is part of our package to him. This Call to Action document is going to be value-added. Being value-added means the contributions that have come up of this are actually going to be put in the priorities that the members have." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Loading... Home | World | Africa | More bad news for Mnangagwa Zimbabwe should brace for more problems after the European Union (EU) Parliament proposed a fresh round of punitive sanctions this week against President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government, following a recent vicious crackdown against civilians by security forces. This comes as the United Kingdom (UK) - which had until recently worked tirelessly to help Zimbabwe end decades of its frosty relations with Western powers - has said it is no longer willing to support Harare because of the alleged human rights violations. It also comes as the EU is due to meet on Wednesday next week to review the sanctions which were slapped on ousted former president Robert Mugabe, his wife Grace and a few government officials who include Vice President Constantino Chiwenga. Other officials still on the European sanctions list include Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Phillip Valerio Sibanda, former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss Happyton Bonyongwe and former police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri. As part of at least 26 recommendations, the EU Parliament this week called on the European Council "to review its restrictive measures against individuals and entities in Zimbabwe, including those measures currently suspended, in the light of accountability for recent State violence". The EU MPs also said bluntly that the "continued attacks, hate speech, smear campaigns, acts of intimidation and harassment and acts of torture" against innocent Zimbabweans and human rights defenders had undermined democracy in the country. In that light, they urged "the international community, notably the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union (AU), to give more active assistance to Zimbabwe to find a sustainable democratic solution to the current crisis". They also urged "neighbouring countries to comply with the provisions of international law and to protect those fleeing violence in Zimbabwe with the provision of asylum, especially in the short term". This comes after Zimbabwe was last month thrown into a ginormous crisis when angry protesters flooded the streets of Harare, Bulawayo and several other towns across the country, demonstrating against sharp fuel price hikes. Property worth millions of dollars was also destroyed and looted in the mayhem which ensued, after tens of thousands of workers heeded the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions' three-day strike call. At the same time, security forces unleashed a brutal crackdown against the protesters, the opposition and civil society leaders - in a move which received wide condemnation in the country and around the world. Rights groups also continue to report human rights abuses by security forces - including galling allegations that soldiers had raped women and girls during their much-condemned crackdown against innocent civilians. The EU parliamentarians also implored Mnangagwa to launch a thorough probe into the allegations levelled against the security forces, in addition to pulling the army away from high density suburbs. They further called on Zimbabwean authorities "to undertake a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into allegations of human riots violations and abuses, including rape and sexual violence by the security forces and to bring those responsible to justice". Apart from investigating and prosecuting security forces found to have committed the alleged crimes, the EU MPs also called on the government to implement the findings of the commission of inquiry which was chaired by former South Africa president Kgalema Motlanthe. Mnangagwa appointed the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry to probe the deaths of at least six civilians who were killed on August 1 in Harare's central business district, when the army used live ammunition to break ugly demonstrations which had rocked the capital. Political analysts have said the post-July 30 election shootings, and the latest round of deaths from the January riots - as well as the vicious clampdown of dissenting voices in the country - had dented Mnangagwa's image significantly, in addition to harming his chances of getting financial support from Western countries. Last week, UK minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, also warned that they were mulling widening the sanctions against Mnangagwa's government to include high-ranking military officials - in a move which was widely seen as dashing any last remaining hopes for the renewal of ties between Harare and London. "The process of rolling up the EU (European Union) sanctions has come up and the UK has been arguing that it is not yet time for us to allow those to expire. "And I think since the recent developments we think there might be a case for widening it to include further individuals. "We have been aware that the president has said that heads will roll, we haven't seen any specific heads rolling, but that might be a good example of the kinds of people who could then be further extended and we could include in the sanctions regime," Baldwin said. Mnangagwa, who was feted like a king when he replaced Mugabe in November 2017, initially lifted the mood of crisis-weary Zimbabweans who were hopeful at the time that he would turn around the country's economic fortunes. But his government's efforts to revive the economy by introducing a slew of economic stabilisation measures - which have been widely rejected by ordinary people - have been blamed for causing civil unrest. Meanwhile, and following criticism of his government's handling of the recent protests, Mnangagwa has put in motion plans to launch a national dialogue, in a bid to end the country's myriad problems. The president has already held talks about talks with some of his rivals from last July's presidential election, as part of his efforts to heal the ruling Zanu-PF's rift with the opposition ahead of the mooted national dialogue - which is being spearheaded by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC). However, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa - who has been brawling with the 76-year-old Zanu-PF leader since the outcome of the July 30 poll - snubbed the meeting as he insists on having an independent arbiter for the talks. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Loading... Home | World | Africa | Chiwenga still in Indian hospital Ailing Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is still in India where he is receiving treatment for an as yet to be disclosed ailment, President Emmerson Mnangagwa suggested, Saturday. Mnangagwa told a Zanu-PF rally in Mwenezi, South of Masvingo that Chiwenga was still not back at work while Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri is also indisposed. Chiwenga was whisked out of the country two weeks ago after his health deteriorated. He had been showing signs of irritation and illness in public and was initially flown to South Africa early February triggering criticism and demonstrations by pro-opposition groups who argued he had no right to seek treatment outside the country after threatening to fire doctors at home. The vice president swiftly returned home and used State media to declare that he was fit after attending a cabinet meeting last Tuesday. However, a day later he was again flown out of the country through Manyame Airbase with reports later suggesting that he is being treated in India. Said Mnangagwa Saturday: "As you can see, I have only Vice President Kembo Mohadi to assist me, the other Vice President, General Chiwenga, is not feeling well. "So that is why he is not with us here. We thought it would be important to officially make this announcement because these are our senior Politburo members." Two weeks ago, deputy information minister Energy Mutodi claimed that Chiwenga was being treated for a "stomach ailment" and was expected in the country "soon." Muchinguri-Kashiri was injured in last year's pre-election Bulawayo bombing incident and Mnangagwa said she had gone for "check-ups". "The national chairman (national chairperson Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri) is also not here. She had to receive her regular treatment for the injuries she suffered during the bomb explosion. "When the bombing incident happened in Bulawayo, Cde Chinomona and Vice President Cde Mohadi also got injured, but it's good that we have them here," said Mnangagwa. Mohadi has also not been well while Mnangagwa is also not in the best of health after being poisoned in the bitter succession struggle that rocked the ruling Zanu-PF party before the November 2017 coup fronted by Chiwenga. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Loading... Home | World | Africa | Zimbabwe shelves plans to join Africa Continental Free Trade Area GOVERNMENT has shelved plans to fully join the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) so that it could find space to stabilise local industry which is struggling to produce enough quality goods to compete outside. This was revealed by Industry and Commerce Ministry's director of International Trade, Beatrice Mutetwa while addressing parliamentarians early this week. "We have requested for time out of the ACFTA because our local industry is not producing enough to be able to compete with other countries. "We have requested for between 13 to 15 years and thereafter, we will be able to compete with our continental counterparts," she said. Mutetwa said Zimbabwe was in a peculiar position and needed to work towards achieving an even landscape. This, she said, was unlike the current situation which only makes the country a market place because it lacked locally manufactured products. "We need to focus on the industry pillar and infrastructure because we cannot just open up our markets without looking at the supply side. Otherwise we may end up becoming a market for others," Mutetwa said. Member countries are requested to open up 90 percent of their markets but Zimbabwe had only offered up 85 percent as considerations are still being made on how the key sectors like tourism and mining will be protected. ACFTA is the brainchild of the African Union and was initiated in 2012 with the objective of establishing a single trading bloc which enjoys lowered trade barriers across the continent. The organ will take advantage of the existing regional blocs like SADC which will eventually be unified in the creation of the free trade area. It is set to bring together the continent's 55 nations, creating a total 1 billion customers for Africa's goods and services through a lucrative $3.4 trillion Gross Domestic Product. The initiative also seeks to accelerate trade between African nations as opposed to the current scenario where intra-continental trade is at its lowest. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Loading... Rumour has it that Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, and the Governor of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Dr John Mangudya are failing to agree on key monetary policies including when Zimbabwe should bring back the dreaded Z$.When came in as Minister of Finance, Professor Ncube boasted that he was going to attract investors, bringing economic stability, etc. None of these things have happened; instead the country's economy has blundered from one economic crisis to the next. When he first arrived the Minister was the Tzar no one dared to question but now after all these blunders; Governor Mangudya and others have the courage to disagree and say so loud and clear. The Tzar does not like it one bit! Indeed Minister Ncube is now so unhappy in his job some people believe he is planning to walkout! "Historic comment. Something is afoot. Is there any merit to the talk in high places that your plans to do a Nkosana Moyo have reached an advance stage?" commented Professor Jonathan Moyo, clearly relishing the prospect of the discomfort it will bring to Mnangagwa and Zanu PF. Dr Nkosana Moyo a technocrat appointed into Mugabe's cabinet with as much fun-fare with the high hopes that he would inject new life into the cabinet and the economy. It was embarrassing when Moyo sneaked out of the country and then announced he had resigned out of frustration with the regime's incompetence! Professor Mthuli Ncube can f-off! He has already proven beyond all doubt that he is just a big-headed Professor Know-It-All with no common sense, he has blundered from pillar to post, promised mountains and yet delivered mole hills. Zimbabweans will have good cause to celebrate his departure. Still, Professor Ncube must hunt down and quiz on whether he really believed the July 2018 Zimbabwe elections were free, fair and credible and Mnangagwa and his junta regime were legitimate. It is inconceivable he was not aware of the damning reports by the many election observer teams including Zimbabwe's own Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission; proof Zanu PF rigged the elections. So Professor Ncube would have accepted his appointment as Minister knowing fully well that Zanu PF was illegitimate. There can only be one logical reason why he did that - to further his own selfish and egotistic interest regardless of the suffering and deaths the Zanu PF dictatorship was causing to the nation. Indeed Professor Ncube has played his own role in bringing more grief to the nation. His 2% tax on electronic transactions had hit the poor hard. Government was getting a cut of the poor's US$30 or less per month, in a country whose poverty datum line is US$650 per month, dragging them even deeper below the breadline. One decent meal, life-saving medicine, etc. have become luxuries and hundreds of thousands have died in damn anguish. Whilst Professor Ncube had no second thoughts in taxing the poor to death, he left the filthy rich ruling elite untouched. He not only failed to stop the looting but failed to get the looters to pay any tax on their loot. If anything he using the cash squeezed from the poor to pay for the hired jets, overseas health jaunt, etc. for the ruling elite! In 2016 Mugabe admitted the nation was being "swindled" out of $15 billion in diamond revenue alone. Mugabe was booted out of office in 2017 before he had arrested even one of the swindlers. Mnangagwa said his new dispensation had "zero tolerance on corruption". He has been in office over a year now and has yet to arrest one diamond swindler! Mnangagwa has been busy rigging the July 2018 elections and seeing to it the state security forces punished all those who dared protest the rigged elections, the soaring cost of living, etc. It was Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister Kirsty Coventry and many others' job to sell a sanitised democratic Zimbabwe to the world. Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before, has never had an problems recruiting mean spirited sell-outs like Ncube, Coventry, etc. He paid them well! Pretty good wages for one Judas Iscariot kiss! The growing number of blunders, the scandal of his own incompetence, the vote of no confidence from those around him, etc. is enough to warn Professor Ncube he should sneak out before the s***t hits the fan, so to speak. Wherever you go, Professor Mthuli Ncube, you be be certain we will find you. You must explain to the people of Zimbabwe whether you really did not know that Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections and was therefore illegitimate. Zimbabwe has had more than its fair share of individuals so mean spirited they would sell their own mother for a price and be proud they had a mother to sell. We must hold these sell-outs to account and make it clear this behaviour will not be tolerated. Home | News | General | EL-Rufai urges leaders to pinpoint the culprits of Kaduna killing - Kaduna state governor, Nasiru El-Rufai has begged the Fulani community not to make a counter attack of their members that were killed - The governor decried the killing and how its recurrence has been impacting negatively on growth in the state - El-Rufai also called on youths in the state, especially in the community, to shun violence or face a death penalty Kaduna state governor, Nasiru El-Rufai has pleaded with the Fulani community not to engage in reprisal attacks after 66 of their members were killed in Kajuru Local government area of the state. The governor, who made the plea in Kajuru on Saturday, February 16, during a meeting with various stakeholders, said killings have become incessant in Iri axis, including Kuturo, Unguwar Barde, Maro gida among other areas in the local government. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda I know its the Fulanis that are most affected in this crisis as over a hundred people have been killed but as Muslims, we have been advised to forgive, to be patient as God avenges every evil. You must not take the laws into your hands by killing anybody as you are likely to harm innocent people. Allow the security to do their work please. The governor alleged that some elders in the communities were responsible for the killings having provided weapons to the youths who carried out the attacks. I am always disheartened each time I visit Kajuru and sincerely am tired of this situation, because the elders know those involved in the killings and have refused to fish them out. Maybe when government and the security agencies withdraw support from your communities, you will know our worth and do the needful. I have also asked the council chairman not to bail any leader who will be arrested in connection with the menace. Nobody is above the law, hence, culprits must be prosecuted, if guilty, El-Rufai stressed. The governor called on the youths to stop the unnecessary killings in the area, warning that anyone of them caught would also face death penalty. READ ALSO: Breaking: INEC chairman meets with Nigerias former heads of state El-Rufai said the recurring killings in the local government has stunted its growth, noting that no community develops without peace; all developmental projects are meant for the youths as they are beneficiaries in the long run. He condoled families whose relatives were killed during the attack and promised to render help to victims whose houses were burnt. Earlier, the council chairman, Cafra Caino said miscreants in the communities have refused to allow peace to reign, adding that all peace loving people must work to expose the perpetrators and bring them to justice. He said: We have given bikes to village heads to help us manage the security issues. We must not allow them divide us along religious and ethnic sentiments. We therefore urge all leaders to pinpoint the culprits. Also speaking, the chief Imam of Adara kingdom, Nuhu Shaaban who is also a Fulani leader said majority of those killed were women and children less than one year old. We the Fulanis have lived in this forest for over 41 years but the youths keep ambushing and killing us. Some of us were slaughtered and others burnt and thrown in ditches, Shaaban disclosed. The Imam called on the commissioner of police to transfer most of the policemen in the area, whom he claimed were mostly indigenes of the communities who have been at their duty posts for over 10 years. He however appreciated the new divisional police officer recently deployed to the area and the military authorities for their efforts at ensuring security in the area. The village head of Rafin Rogo, Jonah Luka-Sarki, also reechoed the claims of the governor that the perpetrators were very well known and must be brought to justice for peace to reign in the area. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Luka-Sarki pleaded: We dont have to disclose their names in public, but we must ensure they are arrested because they have become nuisance to all the tribes in this LGA. We all must fear God and bring an end to this menace. Since the miscreants operate in the bushes using the same route, we call on government to send soldiers to secure our forests." Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that as Nigeria prepares for the 2019 presidential election, 66 people lost their lives to attack by gunmen in Kajuru local government area of Kaduna state. Among the victims are 22 children and 12 women while four wounded persons were said to have been rescued by security agents who were alerted of the attacks. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Robbers Return Firearms to Nigerian Police (Crime News in Nigeria) | Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Loading... Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis gathers bishops from around the world at the Vatican this week for a hotly-awaited summit on tackling the wave of child sex abuse scandals assailing the Catholic Church. The heads of around 100 bishops' conferences from every continent will convene from Thursday to Sunday for the meeting on the protection of minors, with victims' groups demanding that a concrete action plan on fighting paedophilia be drawn up. The pope, who asked the bishops to speak to victims of abuse in their respective countries before the Rome convention, has tried to dial down "inflated expectations" for a cure-all. Several victims were also invited to the Vatican. "I ask you to pray for this meeting," the pope said Sunday, adding that he wanted the meeting "as an act of strong pastoral responsibility in the face of an urgent challenge of our time." The conference aims to be an opportunity to improve awareness of the global phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors within the Church, despite many in Africa, Asia and the Middle East being in denial of what they call "a Western problem". In many parts of the world, discussing violence towards children and even sex is taboo, leading the Vatican to organise this week's "educational" gathering. Some abuse victims, particularly from countries where their plight is ignored, have also been invited to attend. "Someone who has met a victim, heard their cries for help, their tears, their psychological and physical wounds, can't remain the same," said German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, a psychologist who travels the world educating priests and is one of the conference's organisers. "The Catholic Church has been faced with this problem for the last 35 years," he said, hailing rigorous preventative measures taken in Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland and the United States. "It works: the number of new accusations of sexual assault in all these countries is now minimal," he said. Story continues The aim is for the heads of the world's episcopal conferences to achieve "a feeling of collective responsibility" said Father Federico Lombardi, who will be leading debates during the conference. "The credibility of the Church is at stake," he said. - 'A decisive moment' - The summit comes after Pope Francis defrocked a former cardinal -- American Theodore McCarrick -- over accusations he sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago. McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican's College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse. Chilean Vatican expert Luis Badilla said the meeting would be a "decisive moment for the pontificate". "We want this meeting to result in concrete measures," he said, echoing victims' hopes for the conference, being held in the wake of paedophile scandals that have shaken the Church particularly in Chile and in the United States. The summit's title, concerning "the protection of minors", avoids using the words "sex" or "paedophilia", noted Badilla. That reflects the Church's centuries-old instinct to protect its image, he said. But added "the only way to emerge from the crisis is to tell the whole truth". In France, prosecutors said Friday they were investigating a sexual assault complaint made against the Vatican's envoy to Paris, 74-year-old Luigi Ventura. He is accused of molesting an official at the Paris mayor's office, a judicial source told AFP. The pope has already warned those hoping the four-day meet will be a panacea that "the problem of abuse will continue". "By resolving the problem within the Church, through becoming aware, we will contribute to resolving it within society, within families, where the shame means everything is hidden," Francis said. The meeting will come up with "protocols for moving forward", because "sometimes bishops don't know what to do," he said. Father Zollner is also wary of people hoping for a magic wand of "new norms" that will make the problem simply disappear. Bishops must "change their attitude", which can be more difficult than drawing up new rules or guidelines, he said. The scale of the problem is impossible to measure statistically. A study in the United States said that between three and four percent of the clergy were involved in abuse before 2002, when stricter guidelines were published, said Zollner. While the Catholic Church says it is trying to address the problem, other churches are also affected. In the United States, the Protestant Southern Baptist Convention has been hit by a wide-ranging sex abuse scandal involving almost 400 pastors, volunteers and teachers over two decades. A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Schlumberger (SLB). Shares have added about 8.7% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Schlumberger due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts. Schlumberger Posts In-Line Earnings in Q4, Decline Y/Y Schlumberger Limiteds fourth-quarter 2018 earnings of 36 cents per share (excluding charges and credits) were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The bottom line, however, declined from 48 cents a year ago. The oilfield service giant logged total revenues of $8,180 million, flat year over year. The top line, however, beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8,062 million. The improvement in drilling business on higher mobilized rigs for integrated projects, rise in sales of SIS software in international markets and increased activities associated with Testing Services in Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar aided the companys fourth-quarter results. The positives were partially offset by the fall in OneStim revenues from the North American land market. Segmental Performance Reservoir Characterization and Drilling units registered a year-over-year increase in revenues while the Production segment reported a decline. Increased sales of SIS software in India, Russia, Vietnam and China aided the Reservoir Characterization segment. Improved activities related to Testing Services in Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar also led to the improvement. However, lower Wireline activity in Russia partially offset the units results. Mobilization of higher drilling rigs for several integrated drilling developments in Argentina, China, India and Norway backed the Drilling segment. Lower activities in Northern Hemisphere have offset the results partially. Story continues Decline in OneStim revenues from the land market of North American hurt the Production segment. The waning in revenues related to well services in the Argentina also led to the deterioration. Revenues at the Reservoir Characterization unit totaled $1,651 million, marginally higher than $1,640 million a year ago. Pre-tax operating income increased nominally to $364 million from $359 million in fourth-quarter 2017. Revenues at the Drilling unit summed $2,461 million, up 13% year over year. Pre-tax operating income was $318 million, flat year over year. Revenues at the Production segment declined 5% from the year-earlier quarter to $2,936 million. Moreover, pre-tax operating income fell 37% year over year to $198 million. Revenues at the Cameron segment amounted to $1,265 million, down 11% year over year. Pre-tax operating income dropped 37% from the prior-year quarters $127 million. Financials As of Dec 31, 2018, the company had approximately $2,777 million in cash and short-term investments plus $14,644 million in long-term debt. This represents a debt-to-capitalization ratio of 30.5%. Through the October-to-December quarter, 2.1 million stocks were repurchased by the oilfield services player. Outlook Schlumberger believes oil prices will recover gradually through 2019. However, the volatility in the commodity price has convinced explorers and producers to spend conservatively, added the company. In other words, a customers emphasis on free cash flow rather than capital spending owing to oil price volatility has made the outlook for onshore North American drilling and production businesses uncertain, said Schlumberger. How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then? In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates. The consensus estimate has shifted -5.86% due to these changes. VGM Scores Currently, Schlumberger has a subpar Growth Score of D, however its Momentum Score is doing a bit better with a C. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of C on the value side, putting it in the middle 20% for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Outlook Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. It's no surprise Schlumberger has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). We expect a below average return from the stock in the next few months. 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 Schlumberger Limited (SLB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG) has pleased shareholders over the past 10 years, by paying out dividends. The stock currently pays out a dividend yield of 7.2%, and has a market cap of UK2.2b. Does IG Group Holdings tick all the boxes of a great dividend stock? Below, Ill take you through my analysis. View our latest analysis for IG Group Holdings 5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics: Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers? Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout? Has dividend per share amount increased over the past? Does earnings amply cover its dividend payments? Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth? LSE:IGG Historical Dividend Yield February 17th 19 How does IG Group Holdings fare? The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 81%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. Going forward, analysts expect IGGs payout to remain around the same level at 81% of its earnings. Assuming a constant share price, this equates to a dividend yield of around 7.2%. In addition to this, EPS is forecasted to fall to 0.50 in the upcoming year. If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. A company with strong cash flow, relative to earnings, can sometimes sustain a high pay out ratio. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock youre eyeing out is reliable in its payments. In the case of IGG it has increased its DPS from 0.13 to 0.43 in the past 10 years. It has also been paying out dividend consistently during this time, as youd expect for a company increasing its dividend levels. This is an impressive feat, which makes IGG a true dividend rockstar. Story continues In terms of its peers, IG Group Holdings has a yield of 7.2%, which is high for Capital Markets stocks. Next Steps: Keeping in mind the dividend characteristics above, IG Group Holdings is definitely worth considering for investors looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. Below, Ive compiled three key factors you should look at: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for IGGs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for IGGs outlook. Valuation: What is IGG worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, its not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether IGG is currently mispriced by the market. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here. To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! There is a lot to be liked about Wynnstay Group Plc (LON:WYN) as an income stock. It has paid dividends over the past 10 years. The company is currently worth UK81m, and now yields roughly 3.3%. Does Wynnstay Group tick all the boxes of a great dividend stock? Below, Ill take you through my analysis. View our latest analysis for Wynnstay Group How I analyze a dividend stock When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas: Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers? Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past? Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years? Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings? Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future? AIM:WYN Historical Dividend Yield February 17th 19 How well does Wynnstay Group fit our criteria? The company currently pays out 34% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a payout ratio of 35% which, assuming the share price stays the same, leads to a dividend yield of around 3.4%. In addition to this, EPS is forecasted to fall to 0.39 in the upcoming year. When assessing the forecast sustainability of a dividend it is also worth considering the cash flow of the business. A business with strong cash flow can sustain a higher divided payout ratio than a company with weak cash flow. If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, its dividend stocks and their constant income stream. WYN has increased its DPS from 0.027 to 0.13 in the past 10 years. During this period it has not missed a payment, as one would expect for a company increasing its dividend. This is an impressive feat, which makes WYN a true dividend rockstar. Story continues Relative to peers, Wynnstay Group produces a yield of 3.3%, which is high for Food stocks but still below the markets top dividend payers. Next Steps: With these dividend metrics in mind, I definitely rank Wynnstay Group as a strong income stock, and is worth further research for anyone who considers dividends an important part of their portfolio strategy. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. There are three important factors you should further research: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for WYNs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for WYNs outlook. Valuation: What is WYN worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, its not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether WYN is currently mispriced by the market. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here. To help readers see 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. Vice President Mike Pence mentioned his boss in a speech Saturday, and he may not have gotten the reaction he expected. As he spoke to attendees of the Munich Security Conference, he noted that he was there on behalf of a "great champion of freedom and of a strong national defense." "I bring greetings from the 45th president of the United States of America, President Donald Trump," Pence said. Pence paused, perhaps waiting for a reaction. The response? Silence. After about five seconds, Pence continued with his speech. A copy of Pence's prepared remarks provided by the White House marks an "applause" note after Pence's greetings line. The remarks also show "applause" notes for introductions of the American delegation, which included Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Though Pence did give a shout-out to Graham which was followed by applause he skipped the intro for Pelosi. Pence spoke as part of the John McCain Dissertation Award Ceremony, named after the late Arizona Republican senator who was a vocal critic of Trump. Watch the full speech below. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vice President Pence met with silence after mentioning Trump in a speech London (AFP) - A teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria but now wants to return to Britain on Sunday gave birth in a refugee camp, as European governments grapple with what to do with returning jihadists ahead of a US troop pullout. Shamima Begum, whose fate has stirred controversy ever since she and two friends fled London to join the terror network in 2015 aged just 15, told Sky News she had delivered a boy. "I just gave birth so I'm really tired," the 19-year-old said as she made a renewed appeal to be allowed back to Britain with her newborn baby. "I'm afraid he might even die in this camp. I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I've been through," she said. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I left. I just was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they let me come back," she added. Her case comes as European nations struggle with how to deal with jihadists eager to return home following the disintegration of Islamic State's "caliphate" in eastern Syria. US President Donald Trump again demanded on Saturday that they take back hundreds of captured IS fighters. Trump said on Twitter that the United States was asking Britain and other continental allies "to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial". The demand came as he prepared -- ahead of the pullout of US troops -- to declare the group's so-called "caliphate" destroyed, with US-led Arab and Kurdish forces close to capturing its last Syrian territorial holdout. "The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe," Trump added. "Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!" - 'I don't regret it' - Begum, previously gave birth to two other children after marrying in Syria. Both children died. Story continues Leading politicians, including interior minister Sajid Javid, have vowed to prevent her return, pointing to her lack of remorse for joining the terror group. Begum told Sky News she was aware of IS's brutal tactics, including conducting beheadings, but did not regret going to Syria. "I knew about those things and I was OK with it at first," she said. "They take care of you... you're living under Islamic law. "I don't regret it because it's changed me as a person, made me stronger, tougher." The teenager, who said she had had no contact with British officials, added the government should not block her homecoming because she was "just a housewife" while there. "I never made propaganda, I never encouraged people to come to Syria. "They don't really have proof that I did anything that is dangerous," she said. - 'Dangerous individuals' - Europe has long been grappling with how to respond to foreign fighters, and their supporters or dependants, caught in Syria. However the looming US departure has created a deadline for those governments whose citizens joined IS and have now been captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Britain's government appears split on the issue. Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright, a former attorney general -- the country's chief legal adviser -- told the BBC on Sunday that it was "obliged, at some stage at least, to take them back". He noted it was "a matter of international law and domestic law". However, writing in The Sunday Times -- under the headline "if you run away to join ISIS, I will use all my power to stop you coming back" -- Javid insisted the government should strip "dangerous individuals of their British citizenship". He said Britain had already exercised this power more than 100 times. "In considering what actions need to be taken now, I have to think about the safety and security of children living in our country," Javid wrote. Other European countries that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention are now being forced to confront the situation. "All German citizens -- including those who are suspected of fighting for the so-called Islamic state -- have a fundamental right to travel back into Germany," a German foreign ministry source said Sunday. Belgian justice minister Koen Geens told Flemish broadcaster VRT there was the need for a "European solution" to the issue, but appeared irked by Trump's blunt call. "It would have been nice for friendly nations to have these kinds of questions raised through the usual diplomatic channels rather than a tweet in the middle of the night," he said in Dutch. Richwood, TX (77531) Today A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Some clouds. Low near 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's choice for ambassador to the United Nations, Heather Nauert, has withdrawn from consideration for the job for family reasons, the State Department said on Saturday. Nauert was State Department spokeswoman when Trump chose her for the U.N. position after working as a host for the conservative-leaning Fox News Channel. She had been criticized by Democrats for her lack of diplomatic experience. "The past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration," Nauert said in a State Department statement. The statement did not specify the hardship on her family but the Washington Post said Nauert's husband and children had remained in New York while she was working in Washington. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters Nauert withdrew from consideration because she had a nanny who was in the United States legally but did not have the proper work visa. Nauert was not immediately available for comment. The White House had no information on who might be the next in line for the U.N. job. Trump had announced on Dec. 7 he would nominate Nauert for the U.N. position to replace Nikki Haley, who resigned at the end of 2018. Haley was a former South Carolina governor who also had little experience in world affairs before taking the ambassador position. The White House had not yet formally submitted Nauert's nomination to the Senate. Nauert joined the State Department as spokeswoman in April 2017, three months into the Trump administration. She was named acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs in early 2018. The role of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is a highly visible international position. While Nauert had little diplomatic experience, other nations with veto power on the U.N. Security Council are represented by ambassadors with decades of foreign policy work. "She's clearly not qualified for this job but these days it seems that the most important qualification is that you show up on Donald Trump's TV screen," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said of Nauert on CNN in December. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, previously the longest serving U.S. spokesman at the United Nations, is among the possible replacements for Nauert as nominee, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Grenell has been a controversial figure in Germany. In June 2018 he said in an interview with right-wing news outlet Breitbart News, "I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe." Some German lawmakers criticized him in response, according to USA Today. (Reporting by Christopher Bing, additional reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott and Nick Macfie) By Robin Emmott and John Irish MUNICH (Reuters) - In 2009, then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden came to Munich to "press the reset button" with Russia. A decade later he came again to offer the world better relations, this time with his own country. Promising that "America will be back" once Donald Trump leaves office, Biden won a standing ovation at the Munich Security Conference from delegates who find the president's brusque foreign policy stance hard to like. But their elation also exposed the weakened state of Western diplomacy in the face of Trump's assertiveness, according to European diplomats and politicians who were present. Biden's successor, Mike Pence, was met with silence at a reception in the palatial Bavarian parliament on Friday evening after he delivered his signature line: "I bring you greetings from the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump." His four-day trip to Europe succeeded only in deepening divisions with traditional allies over questions such as Iran and Venezuela and offered little hope in how to deal with threats ranging from nuclear arms to climate change, diplomats and officials said. Misgivings about Washington's role in the world are being felt by ordinary people as well as foreign policy specialists. In Germany and France, half the population see U.S. power as a threat, up sharply from 2013 and a view shared by 37 percent of Britons, the Washington-based Pew Research Center said in a report before the Munich foreign policy gathering. Asked about European anxiety over Trump's leadership style, a senior U.S. official on Pence's Air Force Two plane said the vice president's Munich conference speech on Saturday at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof would "help give them a different perspective". "TIT-FOR-TAT" But if the Europeans did not like the "America First" message, there was no concerted response to it. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was on her own after a last-minute cancellation by French President Emmanuel Macron. That caused some to lament the failure of the West to uphold the rules-based international order that Washington itself championed in the 70 years that preceded the arrival of Trump in the White House. "The tit-for-tat logic is unfortunately prevailing ... I think that takes us back to the question of enlightened leadership," said Thomas Greminger, secretary general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a security and human rights watchdog. "We need leaders again who do not believe exclusively in short-termism," he told Reuters. It fell to China to aid Merkel in her defense of the post-World War Two order, as the country's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, spoke in flawless English for over 20 minutes about the virtues of open trade and global cooperation. Pence's message was, in fact, that the pillars of U.S. foreign policy were being rebuilt on a different foundation: isolating Iran, containing China, bringing American troops home and requiring European powers to fall into line. BROKEN NARRATIVE? After using a speech in Warsaw on Thursday to accuse Britain, France and Germany of trying to undermine U.S. sanctions on Iran, Pence called in Munich for the European Union to recognize Venezuelan congressional leader Juan Guaido as president over Nicolas Maduro, whom he called a dictator. That drew an angry response from Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, who said the European Union could acknowledge Guaido as interim president until new elections, in line with the Venezuelan constitution. French foreign minister Jean-Yves LeDrian said he was mystified by U.S. policy on Syria after Trump's decision to withdraw troops because it would only benefit Iran, which Washington wants to be tough on. European diplomats and officials also took issue with Pence's insistence that EU governments stay away from Chinese telecoms companies as they build the latest generation of mobile networks, preferring first to have an internal discussion about the potential risks and U.S. claims of Chinese espionage. "U.S. pressure has a tendency to make us do the opposite. U.S. pressure is counterproductive. It's best that they don't try and pressure us," a senior French diplomat said. Whatever the threats, officials seemed to be mainly talking past each other. Kumi Naidoo, global head of Amnesty International, said security was often defined too narrowly, failing to address the wider dangers of climate change. "The narrative here at the Munich Security Conference is broken. They are talking about the right topics but in the wrong language. The mentality here is that security is only a national issue," Naidoo told Reuters. Leaving for Washington, Pence was unfazed, telling reporters his trip had been very successful. "We're advancing the interests of the free world, and we've made great progress." (Additional reporting by Paul Carrel and Andreas Rinke; Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Giles Elgood) Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was briefed at his Florida resort by negotiators working to reach a trade deal with Beijing after their return from "very productive" meetings with Chinese officials. "Trade negotiators have just returned from China where the meetings on Trade were very productive. Now at meetings with me at Mar-a-Lago giving the details," the president tweeted. He also reiterated his assertion that current tariffs "are being paid to the United States by China," when in fact they are paid by US companies and ultimately by American consumers in the form of higher prices. Senior officials completed two days of high-stakes talks in Beijing on Friday as they try to avert the US threat to more than double tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, which would be an unwelcome shock to the world's second largest economy as it already has shown signs of slowing. American officials accuse Beijing of seeking global industrial predominance through an array of unfair trade practices, including the "theft" of American intellectual property and massive state intervention in commodities markets. Since a December detente, China has resumed purchases of some US soybeans and dangled massive buying of American commodities to get US trade negotiators closer to a deal. Talks have included discussion of purchases to reduce the "large and persistent bilateral trade deficit," the White House has said. But many China experts say Beijing's Communist Party rulers are unlikely to make significant changes to industrial policies without a long and tough fight. DES MOINES, Iowa A transgender nurse who was barred from using the restroom corresponding with his gender identity and denied transition-related care won a discrimination lawsuit against the state of Iowa this week. The jury awarded Jesse Vroegh $120,000 in damages on Wednesday. Jurors found that the state engaged in discrimination by forcing Vroegh, 37, to use the female restroom at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, where Vroegh worked as a nurse for about seven years. "This whole lawsuit process has been difficult and emotionally very trying," Vroegh said in a statement. "My life has been put under a microscope. But I do it because it's important for all the transgender Iowans who come after me. "I want them to be treated fair and equally." More: LGBTQ families are on the cusp of dramatic growth, and millennials lead the way Almost a year ago, Vroegh filed suit against the Iowa Department of Corrections, the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Patti Wachtendorf, the previous warden at the women's prison in Mitchellville. Wellmark was later dismissed from the lawsuit. In his suit, Vroegh who was represented by the ACLU of Iowa, the ACLU LGBT Project and cooperating attorney Melissa Hasso claimed all of the listed defendants treated him differently than other male employees solely because he is transgender. Vroegh, who was born with female anatomy but has identified as male since he was 7, alleged that the department turned down his request to use mens restrooms and locker rooms, and that the Iowa public employees insurance plan contained a specific exclusion that denied him health coverage for transition-related surgeries. In January 2017, the state elected to change its health plans to cover gender transition surgeries, Hasso said. While that was a step forward, Hasso pointed out that the move came too late for Vroegh. Because the state has the authority and the power to add and remove coverage exclusions then, presumably, they may elect to remove that in the future, she said. Story continues If the state decides to appeal this, we welcome a ruling from the appellate court that specifically sets out that such targeted exclusions against protected groups of people in Iowa violates the Iowa Civil Rights Act as a matter of law, she continued. After the verdict was announced, the Department of Administrative Services did not return a request for comment, though the department previously declined to discuss the litigation. The Iowa Department of Corrections is working with the Office of the Attorney General to review the decision and evaluate our options, said spokesman Cord Overton, who responded on behalf of the department and Wachtendorf. The ACLU of Iowa called the verdict historic, noting that Vroeghs lawsuit was "the first transgender rights case to be filed in Iowa district court since Iowa added gender identity protections to the Iowa Civil Rights Acts in 2007." By having gender identity or the gender a person identifies as, no matter what sex organs he or she was born with named as a protected class, transgender Iowans have legal rights against discrimination in education, employment, housing and public accommodations. The import of the ruling today is that any plan that contains that coverage exclusion better beware, because this jury found that that was discriminatory, Hasso said. The same is true for bathroom use," she continued. "You need to let transgender people use the single-sex facilities consistent with their gender identity, or face finding that you are breaking the law. Part of a larger issue Vroegh's claim comes just weeks after the Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of two transgender women who are seeking to overturn Iowas Medicaid ban on transition-related surgeries. The Iowa Code governing Medicaid classifies transition-related surgeries as "cosmetic, reconstructive or plastic surgery" despite some of those same procedures, such as mastectomies, being covered routinely for other illnesses. The code also outright bans coverage for surgeries for the specific purpose of sex reassignment even though, when prescribed by a doctor, transition-related surgeries are recommended by most professional medical organizations. After years of denials, the women, Carol Ann Beal of northwest Iowa and EerieAnna Good of the Quad Cities, filed a lawsuit challenging the ban in 2017. In June, a judge ruled in their favor, agreeing the ban violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act and the state constitution's equal protection clause. Outside of Iowas courtrooms, transgender rights have been a source of heated debate. As of January, the injunction on President Donald Trump's ban on transgender troops serving in the military was lifted by a D.C. appeals court. Due to other cases on the issue, the decision to let the ban stand had no immediate impact, according to the Washington Post, and the defense department was still allowing transgender people to enlist and serve as of last month. Additionally, more than 70 members of Congress signed a letter accusing the U.S. Agriculture Department of "inappropriate overreach" for pushing the national 4-H youth organization to dump its more welcoming LGBTQ policy. The letter sent to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue requested that he explain his agency's role in getting the 4-H organization to remove the controversial policy. The Register first reported in November that a Trump administration official at the USDA requested that 4-H rescind the LGBTQ policy a move that led to the firing last year of John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas, Iowas top 4-H leader. The error of their ways Vroegh started using what would be considered a male name in third grade and has presented in traditionally male clothing since 2000, he wrote in his civil rights complaint filed in 2016. He informed his supervisors at the Mitchellville prison in 2014 that he was transgender and planned to begin his transition to living as a man full-time, he said at the July 2016 news conference announcing the filing. Since mid-2015, Vroegh has used men's facilities in public places and asked people to use male pronouns when speaking to or referencing him. In a meeting with his supervisors, Vroegh said he asked them to establish policies related to issues affecting transgender employees. He also said he asked to use the restrooms and locker rooms matching his gender identity but was forced to use a separate facility from everyone else. The unisex facility in which he was required to dress and store his belongings didnt have a shower, according to an ACLU news release in July 2016, so in addition to isolating him from all of his co-employees Vroegh has no option for showering at work. In April 2016, Vroegh said he was informed that no policy for transgender employees would be written, since transgender issues are too controversial. Vroegh no longer works for the state. Since December 2016, he has worked as an assistant director of nursing at a private facility, which Hasso declined to identify. At his new workplace, his co-workers are fully-supportive of (his) gender identity and have allowed him to use the mens facilities, Hasso said. While the attorneys in this case expect an appeal, Hasso hopes the state recognizes the error in their ways. They can prevent further lawsuits by doing the right thing," she said. "But until we have that ruling from the courts, in terms of setting forth, as a matter of law, this is what you are required to do, we may still have these issues. "But through this case, we are going to get that ruling." This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Transgender nurse barred from using men's restroom wins discrimination case against Iowa Social Security is our nation's most important social program. It's responsible for providing benefits to nearly 63 million people each month, more than 22 million of whom are kept out of poverty as a result of their benefit checks. But Social Security is inching toward big trouble. Social Security's $13.2 trillion dilemma Although nothing is for certain, the 2018 report from the Social Security Board of Trustees portends a big shift on the horizon for the program. Namely, it's nearing an inflection point that'll see the program spend more money than it collects in a given year. The last time that happened was all the way back in 1982, the year before the Reagan administration passed the last major overhaul of the Social Security program. A Social Security card standing up on a table, with the name and number blurred out. Image source: Getty Images. In plain English, it simply means that more money will start flowing out of Social Security than can be replaced via payroll tax revenue, the taxation of Social Security benefits, and the interest income earned on its close to $2.9 trillion in asset reserves. These net cash outflows can be sustainable for a bit, thanks to the program's aforementioned asset reserves, but Social Security can't withstand hemorrhaging money forever. By 2034, the Trustees report projects that this almost $2.9 trillion in excess money will be gone, paving the way for what might be a very steep cut in benefits to then-current and future beneficiaries of up to 21%. Mind you, 62% of today's retired workers lean on Social Security for at least half of their monthly income. In nominal terms, the Trustees quantified the program's long-term (75 year) cash shortfall between 2034 and 2092 at $13.2 trillion -- and this figure is growing with each passing year. In essence, if lawmakers were to raise $13.2 trillion in revenue over this defined period and/or make expenditure cuts, then no reduction in payouts would be necessary. Is it time for us to blame the real culprit: declining U.S. fertility rates? Story continues One of the biggest points of contention regarding Social Security's cash crunch is what, exactly, is responsible. Some of the finger-pointing has gone to baby boomers, while other folks have chosen to blame increased longevity or growing income inequality. Even Congress takes the blame, but often for the incorrect reason. However, there could be a plain-as-day answer as to why Social Security's future is in doubt if you're willing to dig beneath the surface: low fertility rates. Although Social Security is occasionally viewed as a Ponzi scheme, it's nothing of the sort. It is, however, a social investment in the financial well-being of our elderly population that's funded predominantly by taxing the earnings of working-age Americans. In order for such an arrangement to succeed, birth rates have to remain relatively constant over time to ensure that retiring workers are being replaced by new workers in the labor force. A married couple cradling their newborn baby. Image source: Getty Images. Of course, we've seen a few anomalies in birth rates from the average of about two births per woman over their lifetimes. Shortly after the end of World War II, in the mid-1950s, the fertility rate peaked at 3.7 births per woman. This period of exceptionally high birth rates is where we get the term "baby boomer." But since roughly 1971, birth rates have hovered around the two births per-woman mark. However, since the Great Recession, we've witnessed a precipitous decline in fertility rates. After hitting 2.1 births per woman in 2010, the birth rate now finds itself at a 40-year low of 1.76 births per woman. Should this rate of lower births continue, it would result in fewer people entering the workforce in the decades to come, leading to an even greater chance of a decline in the worker-to-beneficiary ratio. According to the Trustees' estimates, even a 10% drop (to 1.8 births per woman) below the projected long-term constant of two births per woman can have a devastating impact on Social Security's long-term projections. At two births per woman, the annual balance for Social Security come 2092 would be negative 4.32%. But if the fertility rate fell to 1.8 births per woman, the annual balance widens 152 basis points to negative 5.84%. We're talking trillions of dollars in adverse impacts to the program and a considerably wider cash shortfall than is currently advertised. Explaining the decline in U.S. birth rates Why have birth rates been declining so rapidly this decade? Again, you won't find a single answer, but rather a handful of plausible hypothesis. One logical suggestion is that the economy is to blame. Sure, we've seen some years of strong earnings growth since 2010, but the devastating nature of the Great Recession, which at its peak saw the broad-based S&P 500 decline 57% and the unemployment rate hit 10%, is still fresh in the minds of American families. Being more financially conscious than their parents who may not have dealt with a major financial crisis, today's couples are waiting longer and trying to save more money before bringing a child into this world. An empty baby crib with a stuffed animal in the corner. Image source: Getty Images. Another postulation is that improvements in access to birth control, as well as increased education in school, has dramatically reduced teen pregnancy rates (defined as women aged 15 to 19). Back in 1990, the teen birth rate per 1,000 women was well above 50. However, by 2017, this figure had fallen to a birth rate of about 20 per 1,000 women. Interestingly enough, birth rates have actually risen for older moms (aged 35 to 44), providing additional evidence that couples are waiting longer before having children. A third idea, somewhat similar to the above, is that we've witnessed a drop in unintended pregnancies. Improvements in access to long-term contraceptives have given couples more control over when they have children. Whatever the reasons actually are, the reality for Social Security is very simple: Without ample replacement workers for future generations of retirees, the cost to fix Social Security is going to be considerably higher than forecast. This cost is more than likely going to be paid by working Americans since nearly 88% of the $1 trillion in revenue collected by the program in 2017 was generated from the payroll tax on earned income. What's more, if the cost to resolve Social Security's cash crunch widens, it means the possibility of a steeper benefit cut than 21% may be needed come 2034. Understandably, the fertility rate would have to remain low for a considerable amount of time for that to happen. But with birth rates falling for nearly a decade straight, this is beginning to look less like an anomaly and more like a new normal. For those of your expecting to be reliant on Social Security income during retirement, this is certainly a wake-up call. More From The Motley Fool The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned on Sunday the United States would not protect those depending on it, in reference to Kurdish fighters who control much of the north. "We say to those groups who are betting on the Americans, the Americans will not protect you," he said without naming them. "The Americans will put you in their pockets so you can be tools in the barter, and they have started with (it)." U.S. President Donald Trump declared in December he would pull troops from Syria, raising more questions over the fate of Washington's Kurdish allies under the threat of Turkish attacks. U.S. forces have long supplied arms and training to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish YPG militia, the main U.S partner in the battle against Islamic State. The U.S. presence helped the SDF seize swathes of north and east Syria, and has also been widely seen as a deterrent against Turkey which has vowed to crush the YPG. Ankara sees the YPG as a security threat and an extension of the Kurdish PKK movement that has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil for decades. The U.S. move drove Syrian Kurdish leaders into fresh talks with Damascus and its key ally Moscow, hoping to agree a deal that could protect the SDF region and safeguard at least some of their gains. "Nobody will protect you except your state," Assad said in a live televised speech on Sunday. "If you do not prepare yourselves to defend your country, you will be nothing but slaves to (Turkey)". (Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Mark Potter) Sydney (AFP) - A 41-year-old surfer was airlifted to hospital Sunday after being bitten in a suspected shark attack on Australia's famed Byron Bay. The man was out catching waves shortly after dawn at Belongil Beach when police said he was "bitten on the leg by a shark". Images taken shortly after appeared to show a chunk bitten out of the tail of the man's surfboard. "I was freaking. When I heard the screams he was making in the water and then I saw a chunk of his board floating off, that's when I realised it was pretty bad," a fellow surfer told national broadcaster ABC. The victim managed to float back to shore on his board and signalled to other beachgoers for help. "He was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics, before being airlifted to Gold Coast University Hospital," police said. He is said to be in a serious but stable condition. Byron Bay is popular with surfers and tourists alike. Despite tens of millions of trips to the beach taken in Australia every year, shark attacks are rare. There were 27 shark attacks in Australian waters last year, according to data compiled by Sydney's Taronga Zoo, including one fatal incident. Leadership Conference For Civil And Human Rights President and CEO Vanita Gupta speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington last year on the Trump administration's decision to add a new question on citizenship to the 2020 Census. WASHINGTON The Trump administration's controversial plan to determine who is and who is not a U.S. citizen during the 2020 Census will be decided by the Supreme Court. The justices agreed Friday to squeeze the blockbuster case on to their April calendar, presumably because the decennial Census questionnaire is scheduled for printing this summer. A coalition of state and local governments and immigrant-rights groups have complained for nearly a year that the Commerce Department is trying to intimidate both undocumented and legal immigrants. If their headcount is suppressed, it could reduce the allocation of federal resources and congressional seats to immigrant communities. A federal district judge in New York struck down the plan last month, ruling that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross exceeded his authority when he announced the inclusion of the citizenship question. Judge Jesse Furman said that the likely undercount of immigrants would mean that California would face "a certainly impending loss of representation in the House of Representatives," and Texas, Arizona, Florida, New York and Illinois would face "a substantial risk of losing a seat." In addition, he said, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia likely would be among those losing federal funds. The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to hear its appeal, sidestepping a federal appeals court because of the tight timetable. "The effect of the district courts decision is that the government will be disabled for a decade from obtaining citizenship data through an enumeration of the entire population," Solicitor General Noel Francisco told the court in his request. New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office is leading the opposition to the administration's effort, had urged the justices to let the district court ruling stand. Lawyers for the House of Representatives, now controlled by Democrats, argued that the administration cannot undermine "the Censuss constitutional purpose: obtaining an actual enumeration of the countrys total population." Story continues The government has not asked about individuals' citizenship on the Census since 1950. The question is included in the American Community Survey, a sample survey conducted annually by the Census Bureau to provide updated demographic information. By agreeing to hear the case, the justices juiced up a low-key docket that had helped them avoid the spotlight following the contentious confirmation last fall of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who faced allegations of decades-old sexual misconduct. Caroline Fredrickson, president of the liberal American Constitution Society, warned that the Supreme Court may see the issue differently than Judge Furman. "The court should affirm the district courts decision, but with its new 5-4 conservative majority, including the newly-minted and controversial Justice Kavanaugh, that may be a faint hope," Fredrickson said. Critics of the administration's Census effort, including California, the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant-rights groups, said immigrants' distrust of the Census and illegal immigrants' fear of deportation would cause them to be undercounted. In his 277-page ruling, Furman dismissed Ross's contention that he acted on the Justice Department's request. He said Ross and his aides sought the citizenship question for other reasons and then "acted like people with something to hide." Opponents have alleged that Ross chose to ask about citizenship after conversations with top Trump administration officials at the time, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. The Supreme Court agreed last fall to hold oral argument on one element of the case whether challengers' lawyers could question Ross about his reasons for adding the citizenship question. That had been scheduled for this month but was rendered moot when Furman struck down the plan. More: President Trump bets big on Supreme Court to uphold controversial policies after lower court losses More: Supreme Court blocks Louisiana abortion restrictions, handing anti-abortion movement a temporary setback More: Supreme Court's conservatives appear poised to expand Second Amendment gun rights This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court will rule on Trump administration's effort to add question on citizenship to 2020 Census CAIRO (AP) A Sudanese parliamentary committee tasked with amending the constitution to allow President Omar al-Bashir to run for another term abruptly canceled its meeting on Sunday, the sate-run news agency said, as hundreds of protesters in the capital called for an end to the president's three-decade rule. SUNA said the meeting was scheduled for Sunday but was postponed for "emergency reasons" and that a new date would be announced later. It did not elaborate. Sudan's constitution, amended in 2005, allows the president to run for two five-year terms. In December, the Sudanese parliament, which is packed with members of al-Bashir's National Congress party, demanded a constitutional amendment to enable the president to serve an unlimited presidential term. He was elected in 2010 and 2015. In Khartoum, police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters, according to local activists. The doctor's union said a protester named Abu Bakr Yussef, 62, died from suffocation after tear gas was fired in the capital's northern Bahri district. Online video footage showed protesters in Khartoum chanting: "Freedom, peace, justice" and "Revolution is people's choice." It also showed a street vendor being wounded in clashes between protesters and police forces. The activists said the injured vendor was taken to a nearby hospital. The activists spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. A government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Sunday's protests, called for by professional and opposition groups, were the latest in a wave of demonstrations that began across much of Sudan on Dec. 19, first against price rises and shortages but soon after began calling for the ouster of al-Bashir. They coincide with worsening economic woes that saw a currency devaluation spiking prices, fuel shortages and a steep rise in the price of bread, a main fare for most Sudanese. Activists say the death of Yussef, the protester, has raised the protests' death toll to at least 58 people. The government's latest tally stands at 30 killed, but its figures have not been updated in days. Al-Bashir, in power since a 1989 military coup he led, insists that only elections, in which he intends to run, can bring change. The stars dont seem to be aligning for Marcus Stroman to be in Toronto much longer. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) When Marcus Stroman chooses to speak, it pays to listen. The 27-year-old rarely opts to speak to the media, except briefly following starts, so when he wants to talk its usually because he has something to say. On Sunday, when Stroman engaged in a scrum lasting over 20 minutes, it was clear there was a message he was trying to send. He made a number of interesting comments, but most important of all was probably the following (per MLB.coms Gregor Chisholm). Ive been waiting to sign a long-term deal, Ive been offered nothing. Theres no one that embodies the city of Toronto more than me and youre not going to find guys who come in and want to embody the city of Toronto Now whether Stroman embodies the city of Toronto more than anyone else is certainly up for debate, but hes certainly been embraced in many quarters and made an effort to connect with the fan base. More pertinent is him unequivocally stating that he wants to be in Toronto on a long-term contract and that he hasnt been offered one. Often those kinds of comments are designed to win the PR battle prior to leaving in free agency. That way you can have the moral high ground with fans by claiming you might have stayed, but there was no offer. This doesnt seem like an example of that. Stroman is two whole seasons away from free agency so itd be awfully early for attempting to soften the blow of leaving. It seems more reasonable to take him at his word and assume hes lobbying for an extension and attempting to use public pressure to accomplish that goal. Due to the state of the free agent market in recent seasons, an extension with the Blue Jays might be a more appealing idea for Stroman than it seemed a couple of years ago. Normally if a team is looking to extend one of their young players they do so when they still have three or four years of control left so that they still have some leverage and the player hasnt made much money yet making the offer of financial security for life a worthwhile bargaining chip. Story continues Stroman has already earned approximately $13.1 million and is set to add another $7.4 million to his coffers this season, the offer of security doesnt do much for him. Hed need a deal at close to free-agent value because hed be trading just one probably-expensive arb year (2020) away and everything else would be free agent seasons. Its hard for a team that find terms that work for them on that kind of extension. If the Blue Jays really wanted to lock Stroman up they probably would have tried a couple years ago. After a 2016 season when hed just had an unusually high ERA but solid peripherals and was about to face four arbitration years would literally have been the perfect time. Stroman is a great pitcher, hes in his prime, the Blue Jays need pitching, and he says he wants to be in Toronto. However, itd take a big bag of money to lock him up now that hes this close to free agency and giving out big bags of money hasnt been this front offices MO. The most likely scenario seems to be Stroman getting moved at the 2019 deadline or possibly next offseason depending on how well hes pitching. It seems likely the Blue Jays would rather recoup prospects for Stroman than have him on an expensive contract, which does make some sense to be fair. Of course, it only makes sense if the money saved is then re-applied to the roster elsewhere, but thats an issue for another day. If theres one thing Stomans comments make clear its that he and the Blue Jays front office seem to want different things right now. Theres a gap between them that looks awfully hard to bridge, a task not made much easier by the state of their relationship, one which certainly didnt get any better on Sunday: This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. More Blue Jays coverage from Yahoo Sports 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. Shamima Begum: What could happen to the Isil bride? - PA The Home Office has stripped jihadi bride Shamima Begum of her British citizenship, but the ongoing saga of what will happen next to her and her days-old son remains up in the air. International law forbids nations from making people stateless by revoking their only citizenship, prompting speculation that Begum held dual citizenship through her Bangladeshi parents. On Wednesday morning, Begum's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said his client does not have dual nationality, but the Home Office told The Telegraph laws in Bangladesh means the teenager automatically retains dual citizenship until she is 21. Her family say they will consider "all legal avenues to challenge this decision", and Begum herself said that she may think about trying to travel with her terrorist husband to his home country of Holland to claim citizenship there. The case has prompted fresh discussions over how Britain manages those returning or attempting to come back from Syria, once gripped by the tyranny of Islamic State (Isil). Begum was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK in February 2015. She married an Isil fighter and on Sunday have birth to her third child at a refugee camp in northeastern Syria. Her first two children died. Begum's family has pleaded for the 19-year-old to be shown mercy and to be allowed to return to east London. But what options do authorities have in such instances? Remain in Syria If Begum is not repatriated, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) could hand her over to neighbouring Iraqi forces, Middle East Correspondent Josie Ensor explains. The Telegraph is aware of at least three cases, including European citizens, where male Isil suspects have been transferred from Syria to Iraq to face trial. This would be a controversial option as Baghdad has the option to impose the death penalty, which the UK opposes. Story continues Foreign detainees are currently being held by the SDF in an area of Kurdish self-rule in northeastern Syria. The SDF has said that they do not have the money or resources to hold them forever. They have warned that if Turkey invades, which it has threatened, it could see the prisoners being set free in the chaos. The Syrian Kurds are also in talks with the Syrian government about ceding some of their territory, which could see some foreign prisoners being handed over to the regime. A third option - Mustafa Bali, the SDF spokesman, has called for an international court to be set up in Syria. This would see them tried by international judges in Syria but return home to serve their sentence. However, sources at the UN say it would be difficult if not impossible to set up such a court in Kurdish-held territory without the authority of the Syrian government. Bangladesh dual citizenship The Telegraph understands that the Home Office made the decision to revoke Begum's British citizenship based on Bangladeshi law. There, until the age of 21, it is understood the Isil bride automatically retains dual nationality due to the fact her parents are both from the country. At the age of 21, a child born to Bangladeshi parents has the right to waive their right to dual nationality, but not before. The complication lies in how she gets to Bangladesh - where it is understood her father is currently living - and how she proves that she is Shamima Begum. The teenager has never visited the country and does not have a Bangladeshi passport. Her old British passport is invalid due to her citizenship being revoked and she has previously said she used her sister's passport to travel to Syria back in 2015. One possible option for her would be to travel to Turkey via the notoriously penetrable border with Syria and present herself to the Bangladeshi embassy. But officials in Dhaka may well appeal the Home Office's decision to make Begum their responsibility, insisting that she has never even been to the country. Attempt to gain Dutch citizenship Begum married Isil fighter Yago Riedjik in Syria having travelled to the Middle East from Bethnal Green in east London in 2015. His whereabouts are still unknown, but when asked what she might do next, the Isil bride told ITV News: "Another option I might try with my family is my husband is from Holland and he has family in Holland. "Maybe I can ask for citizenship in Holland. If he gets sent back to prison in Holland I can just wait for him while he is in prison." This would need a number of elements to align for it to even be a possibility. First, Holland would have to accept to take Riedjik back, having left the country to become a terrorist in the Middle East. Yago Reidjik The country doesn't offer to help its citizens in Syria who are willing to return, and if they report to an embassy, they would be transported to Holland, arrested and prosecuted. A foreigh fighter with dual nationalities deemed a threat to national security - like Britain - can have their Dutch citizenship and passport revoked. If that happens, Begum would have to follow him. But her British passport is - as it stands - invalid. And she previously said she had travelled to Syria on her sister's passport, which has since been taken from her. Dutch legislation dictates that a spouse or partner wishing to live in Holland would need a residence permit, and in order to be eligible for a permit - they must have a valid passport or other travel documents. Somehow, if she manages to make the 2,000-mile journey from Syria to Holland, the Dutch authorities would have to accept that she and Riedjik are married. The pair were wed within the confines of Islamic State a matter of weeks after she arrived. It is highly unlikely there is paperwork to prove they are legally married, and even if there is, the Dutch authorities would have to accept it as binding. Home Office decision is rescinded As the Home Office's letter states, Shamima Begum and her family have the right to appeal the decision. Her lawyer Tasnima Akunjee's rhetoric all along suggests he will help his client fight any move to strip her of her British citizenship. The letter to the Begum family Credit: ITV News If judges side with Begum, deciding Sajid Javid had no right to revoke her British citizenship because it renders her stateless - the Government would be back to square one. The appeal might not necessarily need to happen. If, as Begum's lawyer suggests, the Isil bride is currently stateless - the Home Office would be forced to reverse it stance. In that scenario, all these options are once again back on the table. Sent to Guantanamo Bay As revealed by Ben Riley-Smith, Robert Mendick and Laura Fitzpatrick on The Telegraph's front page on Friday, the United States is planning to send British Isil fighters to Guantanamo Bay amid frustration at the UK's failure to take responsibility for its homegrown terrorists. Senior US officials believe Guantanamo can house more than 50 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters, including the two surviving British members of the so-called "Beatles" terrorist cell that executed Western hostages. It has emerged that the vast majority of Islamist fighters returning to the UK from Syria have been placed on "secretive" government rehabilitation schemes rather than prosecuted. Despite British concern, Guantanamo Bay is being readied in the run-up to Donald Trump's withdrawal of US troops from Syria as soon as April. There is acute frustration within the Trump administration over how Britain and other western European countries are refusing to take back their foreign fighters for prosecution in their own courts. Arrest and prosecution Home Secretary Sajid Javid previously said those who make it back "should be ready to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted". But authorities have faced difficulties obtaining evidence to prove someone committed crimes in Syria. Most recently, The Isil Beatles have caused the Government enormous problems. Two of the four suspected terrorists' fate has been left in limbo as the UK and the US play tug-of-war with where they will end up in court. The Home Office previously blocked their return, and they could end up in an American federal court facing the death penalty after the CPS said there was "insufficient evidence" for them to be tried in the UK. Figures disclosed in the Commons last year suggested that only around one in 10 returnees has been prosecuted over "direct action" in Syria, although ministers say a significant proportion of those who have come back were assessed as no longer being of national security concern. New legislation which passed last week made it an offence to enter or remain in overseas terror hotspots, officially termed "designated areas". Managed return to UK Powers known as temporary exclusion orders (TEOs) were introduced in 2015. They can last for up to two years and can be imposed on those suspected of involvement in terrorism abroad, making it unlawful for them to return to the UK without engaging with authorities. The powers were unused in 2016, while nine TEOs were issued in 2017. TPIMs Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs) allow the Home Secretary to impose a range of disruptive measures on individuals who are suspected of posing a threat to security but who cannot be prosecuted, or, in the case of foreign nationals, deported. Restrictions can include relocation to another part of the country, electronic monitoring and limits on the use of phones and computers. As of the end of August, six TPIMs were in force. Deradicalisation back in Britain Returnees could be referred to the Government's 40 million a year Prevent programme, which aims to stop people being drawn into terrorism. There were 7,318 individuals referred to Prevent in 2017/18. In most cases, referrals are found to require no further action or passed to other services, but when authorities conclude there is a danger the person could be drawn into terrorism, they can be supported through a voluntary scheme known as Channel. Prevent is backed by ministers and police, but has been described as "toxic" by critics, and the Government announced earlier this year that it would be independently reviewed. Islamabad (AFP) - Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a raft of investment deals Sunday worth up to $20 billion for the cash-strapped South Asian country, as Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman launched his Asia tour seeking to emerge from the Khashoggi affair. Pakistan is facing a serious balance of payments crisis and hopes the deals -- seven separate agreements and Memorandums of Understanding -- will provide welcome relief to its teetering economy. The crown prince, widely known as "MBS", is staging the high-profile three-country visit five months after he came under intense pressure following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He got a warm welcome in Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan thanked longtime ally Saudi Arabia for its support, adding: "Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are now taking this relationship to a level which (they) never had before." Khan has already visited Saudi Arabia twice since coming to power last summer. Earlier Sunday, MBS was greeted with a booming 21-gun salute and was warmly embraced by Khan and powerful army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa as he stepped onto a red carpet flanked by an honour guard at a military airbase near Islamabad. The two-day visit to Pakistan comes amid high tensions in the region: India and Saudi Arabia's arch-rival Iran -- both bordering Pakistan -- have accused Islamabad of backing militant groups which have carried out bloody suicide attacks on their soil in recent days. Hours ahead of the crown prince's arrival, Pakistan dismissed Delhi's accusations as "well-rehearsed tactics from (the) Indian playbook after such incidents in the past". MBS will travel to India after his Pakistan visit, where he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He is expected to finish the trip with a visit to China on Thursday and Friday. The Asia trip comes after the murder of Khashoggi, a fierce critic of MBS, ignited a diplomatic crisis. Story continues Riyadh initially denied the murder, then gave several conflicting accounts of Khashoggi's death, and now claims he was killed in an unauthorised operation. Turkey said Friday it has not yet revealed all the information it has uncovered in the case, which launched a global wave of revulsion and profoundly tarnished the crown prince's reputation. - 'Not a pariah' - But for analysts, the Asia tour -- the largest outing on the international scene for the Saudi royal since his participation in the G20 summit in Argentina last December -- is a timely demonstration to the West that he still has friends in rising Asia. He "wants to demonstrate that he is not an international pariah", said James M. Dorsey, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. It is a matter of proving that he still has "international access and he can function... as the most senior representative of Saudi Arabia beyond the king". Li Guofu, director of Middle East studies at the China Institute of International Studies, a government-affiliated think tank, noted that as the Khashoggi case continues to cause indignation in Western countries, visiting them would have been "inconvenient". "Not travelling to the West does not mean that he cannot come to the East. Saudi Arabia is also making strategic adjustments, and Asia is the new main direction of Saudi diplomacy," he said. Asian countries, he added, "have an important special characteristic -- that is, we don't interfere in the internal affairs of other countries". The prince's trip also includes an important economic component. "China is the largest buyer of Saudi crude, and Saudi Arabia's other largest clients are all Asian: India, Japan, South Korea," said Dorsey. "Asia is a source of inward investment into Gulf energy and infrastructure investment; and the future growth of the global economy will be in Asia," said Karen Young, an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute. - Taliban 'in Islamabad' - The crown prince's visit to Islamabad comes as the Taliban appeared to postpone a round of talks with the US set to be held in Pakistan this week, according to the group's spokesman. Neither Washington or Pakistan confirmed the latest round of talks the Taliban earlier claimed were set to take place in Islamabad. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are both involved in a months-long push led by Washington aimed at ending the conflict in Afghanistan. By Drazen Jorgic and Asif Shahzad ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday said Saudi Arabia has signed investment agreements worth $20 billion during his high-profile visit to Pakistan, where tensions were flaring up with nuclear-armed rival India. Kicking off his tour of South Asia and China with a far higher Pakistan investment than expected, the crown prince said the $20 billion figure represents only the start of an economic tie-up that would bring the historic Muslim allies even closer. "Its big for phase 1, and definitely it will grow every month and every year, and it will be beneficial to both countries," said the crown prince. "We have been a brotherly country, a friendly country to Pakistan. Weve walked together in tough and good times, and we (will) continue." But Prince Mohammed's visit is at risk of being overshadowed by Pakistan's growing tensions with India. Earlier this week a suicide bomber killed 44 Indian paramilitary police in the disputed Kashmir region. New Delhi has accused Pakistan of having a hand in the bombing and vowed to punish Islamabad, which denies involvement. Cash-strapped and in need of friends, Pakistan welcomed the crown prince with open arms and in grandiose fashion, including sending fighter jets to guide his incoming plane once it entered Pakistani airspace. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan's army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa greeted Prince Mohammed on the red carpet of a military airport in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, before Khan personally drove the crown prince to the capital Islamabad. "Saudi Arabia has always been a friend in need, which is why we value it so much," said Khan, while seated next to Prince Mohammed. "I want to thank you for the way you helped us when we were in bad situation." Saudi Arabia has in recent months helped keep Pakistan's economy afloat by propping up its rapidly dwindling foreign exchange reserves with a $6 billion loan, giving Islamabad breathing room as it negotiates a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. Islamabad has shown appreciation by treating Prince Mohammed's trip as the biggest state visit since Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015, soon after Beijing announced plans to invest tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure in Pakistan as part of China's global Belt and Road initiative. The tour is seen as a attempt by the crown prince to rebuild his reputation after the murder of Saudi critic and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, analysts say. Many in the West blamed Prince Mohammed for the killing, which triggered the kingdom's biggest political crisis for a generation. He has denied being involved. He had also planned to visit Indonesia and Malaysia during the tour, but those trips have been postponed, according to Malaysian and Indonesian officials. In Pakistan, most of the agreements signed focused on energy projects, including a $10 billion refinery and petrochemicals complex in the coastal city of Gwadar, where China is building a port. Memorandums of understanding were also signed for investments in minerals and agriculture, Khan said. The two nations' relationship has in the past centered on oil-rich Saudi Arabia backing Pakistan's economy during difficult periods, and in return Pakistan's powerful army lending support to Saudi Arabia and its royal family. As the guardians of most holy sites in the birthplace of Islam, the Saudi royal family carries vast religious clout in Pakistan, a staunchly conservative and mainly Muslim nation of 208 million people. "What is happening in this relationship is a renewal of Pakistan's commitment to help protect the royal family and the order as it exists in Saudi Arabia," said Mosharraf Zaidi, Senior Fellow at Tabadlab, a Pakistani think tank focused on global and local public policy. "On the flip side, there is reassurance that Saudi Arabia will not only continue to serve as a strategic friend who will help shore up Pakistan's finances when needed, but it's also going to become a participant in the wider investment in Pakistan." Prince Mohammed was also set to meet representatives of the Afghan Taliban militant group to discuss peace negotiations to end the 17-year civil war in Afghanistan, Pakistani government and militant sources said. But that was unlikely after the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group's planned meetings with Khan and U.S. officials in Islamabad were called off. (Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR and Abdul Qadir Sediqi in KABUL; Editing by Nick Macfie, Sam Holmes and Mark Potter) Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's state arms producer and a French government-majority firm signed an agreement Sunday on a joint venture to boost the kingdom's navy, amid calls to halt weapons sales to Riyadh over it role in Yemen. The memorandum of understanding between Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and France's Naval Group is aimed at providing the oil-rich Gulf state's navy with "state-of-the-art systems", a statement said. "Through design, construction, and maintenance activities, the joint venture will contribute significantly to further enhancing the capabilities and readiness of our Royal Saudi Naval Forces," SAMI boss Andreas Schwer said. A spokeswoman for Naval Group -- which is owned by the French state and French multinational giant Thales -- refused to give any more details. French lawmakers and rights groups have repeatedly called on France's government to suspend all arms deals to Riyadh because of the war in Yemen, where some 10,000 people have been killed since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015. Riyadh is battling on the side of the internationally recognised government against Iran-aligned Huthi rebels, in a conflict that has seen all sides accused of potential war crimes. The US House of Representatives this week voted overwhelmingly to end American involvement in Saudi Arabia's war effort in neighbouring Yemen, dealing a rebuke to President Donald Trump and his alliance with the kingdom. France, one of the world's biggest arms exporters, has sold equipment to Riyadh and fellow coalition member the UAE -- notably Caesar artillery guns and ammunition, sniper rifles and armoured vehicles. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has been one of the world's top arms buyers for the past several years. But in 2017, the kingdom's Public Investment Fund set up SAMI to manufacture arms locally with the fund expecting it to become one of the world's top 25 defence companies by 2030. Story continues Naval Group -- which was previously called DCNS -- has been embroiled in a long-running graft scandal over the 2002 sale of two Scorpene submarines to Malaysia for $1.2 billion. The submarine maker is alleged to have paid more than 114 million euros ($128 million) in kickbacks to a shell company linked to a close associate of ousted Malaysian leader Najib Razak. A French investigation launched in 2010 has already led to four French executives involved in the deal being charged. They all deny wrongdoing. Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Syria's Kurds should start a dialogue with President Bashar al-Assad as their military allies the United States are readying to pull out, Russia said Sunday. "We support this dialogue between Damascus and the Kurds," said Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Vershinin, whose country is a key backer of the Assad regime. Kurdish fighters have spearheaded the fight against Islamic State jihadists, who were expected to lose their final stretch of land in coming days. However, neighbouring Turkey views them as "terrorists". The presence of American troops in areas held by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has so far acted as a shield against any Turkish offensive. But US President Donald Trump in December shocked Washington's allies by announcing a full withdrawal soon of all 2,000 US troops from Syria. Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar charged again Sunday, at the Munich Security Conference, that the Kurdish YPG, a major part of the SDF, are a "terrorist group". "Our main concern before and after the withdrawal of the Americans is the safety and security of our border and our people," he said. Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies have led two previous offensives inside Syria, most recently seizing the northwestern enclave of Afrin from the Kurds last year. Russia's Vershinin addressed the same issue at the conference, asking "what will happen after the US withdraws from Syria? "If there are no foreign troops on the ground of Syria's northeastern part, I think that the best solution would be to start up a dialogue between the Kurds and Damascus." "The Kurds are a part of the population of Syria ... We know about the problems between Damascus and the Kurds but I think there is a solution through dialogue." The Kurds have largely stayed out of Syria's eight-year civil war, instead building their own institutions in a third of the country under their control. Story continues Trump has attempted to ease tensions about their fate by speaking of a 30-kilometre (18-mile) "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country would establish the "security zone" itself if it took too long to implement. James Franklin Jeffrey, US special representative for Syria engagement, said that the US "want to take care of the security concerns of our Turkish NATO allies vis-a-vis in particular the SDF, and we are very concerned that the SDF, with whom we fought, is not mistreated." Lebanese defence minister Elias Bou Saab said it was "clear the Americans are looking at it from one angle, and the Turks are looking at it from a different angle." Politicians on the left and right continued sniping Sunday over who is to blame for Amazons shocking decision last week to scuttle plans to build a second headquarters in New York City. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., castigated New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her repeated criticism of the deal. If Joe Crowley was still a congressman, it wouldnt have happened, King said in an interview that aired Sunday on AM 970 in New York, according to The Hill. Ocasio-Cortez defeated Crowley, a longtime Queens congressman, in a Democratic primary last year. Its like putting a sign up that you cant do business in New York, King said. Nothing is ever perfect, but in this case, it was as close to it as youre going to get. On "Meet the Press" on Sunday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who helped broker the deal, blamed Amazon for reacting so abruptly to the criticism. I have no problem with fellow progressives criticizing a deal or wanting more from Amazon, he said on the program. "I wanted more from Amazon, too, but the bottom line is, this is an example of an abuse of corporate power. Amazon took their ball and went home and what they did was confirm peoples worst fears about corporate America. Heres the 1 percent dictating to everyone else even though we gave them a fair deal. At the same time, de Blasio said progressive Democrats criticism of the $3 billion in tax incentives Amazon received was misplaced. This was a deal that was going to bring $27 billion in revenue to the state and city for things like public education, mass transit and affordable housing," he said. "And the $3 billion in incentives was only after we were getting the jobs and getting the revenue. More: Amazon pays no federal income tax for 2018, despite soaring profits, report says More: HSAs are a triple tax break that can help fast track retirement savings More: The best deals you can get this Presidents Day weekend Story continues In November, Amazon chose Long Island City in Queens and Arlington, Virginia, as the winners of a national competition to host the second headquarters. The company vowed to bring 25,000 to 40,000 jobs to New York City in exchange for $3 billion in state and local tax subsidies. In addition to the jobs, the project was to generate $27 billion in tax revenue for the city and state. The plans for New York unraveled last week amid progressive Democrats' criticism of the subsidies and concerns that the new workforce would increase traffic and home prices, among other issues. Amazon feared New York politicians might not sign off on some of the approvals needed for the project. On Friday, Ocasio-Cortez and Dave Clark, Amazons senior vice president of operations, feuded on Twitter. Citing a Newsweek article, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, is that culture of strict performance why Amazon workers have to urinate in bottles & work while on food stamps to meet targets? Performance shouldnt come at the cost of dehumanizing conditions. Thats why we got rid of sweatshops. Clark responded on Twitter, these claims simply arent true. We are proud of our jobs with excellent pay ($15 min), benefits from day 1 & lots of other benefits like our Career Choice prepaid educational programs. He invited the congresswoman to take a tour, adding wed love to have you! This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Politicians squabble over who is to blame for Amazon decision to ditch New York Warsaw (AFP) - Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has cancelled a visit to Israel for a high-level summit, a government spokesperson told AFP on Sunday, after uproar in Poland over reported comments by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu about the Poles and the Holocaust. Netanyahu -- who was initially quoted in Haaretz newspaper as saying that "The Poles collaborated with the Nazis" -- has been condemned in Poland for appearing to accuse all Polish people of cooperating with Germany during World War II. Warsaw has long been at pains to point out that Poland, which was occupied by Nazi Germany, could not have and did not collaborate in the Holocaust although individual Poles may have done so. The Israeli prime minister's office has said Netanyahu did not implicate all Poles in the Holocaust. It insisted that Netanyahu was "misquoted" in Haaretz and other publications that reported different versions of the quote. "Netanyahu spoke of Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland," a statement read. Morawiecki will no longer attend the Visegrad Group summit, a diplomatic meeting of central European nations, in Jerusalem this week. "Prime Minister Morawiecki told Prime Minister Netanyahu in a telephone call that Poland will be represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz," government spokesperson Joanna Kopcinska said. "Questions about the historical truth and sacrifice that Poland paid during the Second World War have a fundamental value for Poland," she added. Netanyahu was in Warsaw last week for a two-day summit on the Middle East, co-hosted by Poland and the United States, which focused on isolating Iran while building Arab-Israeli ties. The fresh controversy in Polish-Israeli ties comes after last year's row over a Polish law that made it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in Nazi German crimes. After protests from Israel and the US, Poland amended the law to remove the possibility of fines or a prison sentence. Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II and lost six million citizens including three million Jews. WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's prime minister has canceled a trip to Israel in the wake of reported remarks made by his Israeli counterpart suggesting Polish complicity during the Holocaust, an aide in his office told Polish media on Sunday. A government spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki would not attend the summit and would send Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz instead. Morawiecki informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his decision to cancel his visit in a telephone call on Sunday afternoon, spokeswoman Joanna Kopcinska said. The summit of four central and Eastern European countries is set to be held in Jerusalem this week. Poland's government has sought to debunk references to potential Polish collaboration in the Holocaust, in an effort to "fight for the truth," Morawiecki told Poland's parliament last year. Netanyahu's office said in a statement the prime minister, who was in Warsaw for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference when he made the comments, had been misquoted by The Jerusalem Post, which issued a corrected story. In a later statement, Netanyahu's office said in his remarks on the question of Polish collaboration with Nazi occupiers, he had not cast any blanket blame. Netanyahu's acting foreign minister, Israel Katz, sounded circumspect about Morawiecki's cancellation. "In diplomacy one always tries to avoid causing offence. But no one will change historical truth," Katz told Israel's Reshet 13 TV. "Poles collaborated with the Nazis, certainly." Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari was summoned by Poland's government on Friday and was asked to clarify Netanyahu's comments. Morawiecki said in an interview published on Sunday by Polish news agency PAP that Azari explained that Netanyahu was referring to individual cases of Poles collaborating with Nazis. Poland had summoned Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari on Friday for clarification of Netanyahu's comments. Tensions between Israel and Poland ran high last year after Poland introduced new legislation that would make the use of phrases such as "Polish death camps" punishable by up to three years in prison. After pressure from the U.S. government and an outcry in Israel, Poland watered down the legislation, removing the prison sentences. Many Poles still refuse to accept research showing thousands participated in the Holocaust in addition to the thousands who risked their lives to help the Jews. (Reporting by Joanna Plucinska, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Dan Williams; editing by David Evans) AURORA, Ill. The gunman who shot and killed five co-workers and injured five police officers after he was fired from his job had his gun permit revoked five years ago after a background check turned up a prior felony conviction in Mississippi, police said Saturday. The gunman, Gary Martin, 45, was shot and killed by police after officers swarmed the scene Friday at the Henry Pratt Co. plant in Aurora. Henry Pratt is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Products. Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said investigators are trying to determine why Martin was able to continue to possess a Smith & Wesson handgun even after it was discovered he was rejected for a conceal carry permit. Absolutely he was not supposed to be in possession of a gun, Ziman said. Three of the victims, including two who worked in the human resources department, were shot during the meeting where Martin was being terminated, Ziman said. The other two were killed in another part of the 29,000 square foot warehouse, Ziman said. Mueller CEO Scott Hall said in a press conference on Saturday that Martin was set to be fired for a culmination of various workplace rules violations. He declined to specify the violations. Hall said that the company conducted a background check on Martin prior to his hiring 15 years ago. The gunmans 1995 felony conviction in Mississippi didnt surface in the check, Hall said. Hall said that Martin worked part of the workday Friday before he was called into a meeting room where he was to be fired. Nine workers were in the warehouse space at the time of the shooting. The company had security cameras outside the building but no cameras inside the facility. Police still do not know why Martin was being fired. Ziman told reporters that Martin had six prior arrests, including one in 2008 for a domestic matter and one in 2017 for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property. She said that after a background check in January 2014, he was issued an Illinois firearms I.D. that allowed him to purchase the Smith & Wesson handgun from a local dealer on March 11, 2014. The weapon was believed to be used in the rampage. Story continues More: Factory shooting rampage victims include HR manager, college intern and forklift operator Five days later, when he applied for a concealed carry permit, which requires a more extensive background check, his fingerprints turned up a felony conviction in Mississippi in 1995. At that point, the firearms I.D. permitting him to carry the handgun was revoked. During the fingerprinting and background process it was discovered that he had a felony conviction for aggravated assault out of Mississippi, Ziman said. It should be noted that this conviction would not have shown up on a criminal background check conducted for an FOID card. In addition to the five fatalities, five Aurora officers received non-life threatening gunshot wounds during the rampage, Ziman said. A sixth officer received a minor injury not related to gunfire. The dead were identified as Clayton Parks, of Elgin, a human resources manager; Trevor Wehner, of DeKalb; a human resources intern and student at Northern Illinois University; Russell Beyer, of Yorkville, a mold operator; Vincente Juarez of Oswego, a stock room attendant and fork lift operator; and Josh Pinkard, of Oswego, the plant manager. Asked why Wehner, an intern, was in the sensitive situation of being in the room during the firing of a longtime employee, Hall paused and choked back tears during the Saturday press conference. Thats a really tough question, Hall said. I dont think we had thought about that, ever. The Henry Pratt Co., about 40 miles west of Chicago, is one of North Americas largest manufacturers of valves for the potable water, wastewater, power generation and industrial markets. The company was founded in 1901. During World War II, the Company manufactured propellers for Liberty Ships , and in the 1920s, the company made products for electric power plants and gas plants. The company has a tradition of industry firsts. When welding came into use in the mid-1920s, Pratt was instrumental in the design and production of the first welded smoke stack, which was installed at Commonwealth Edisons Fisk Street Generating Station. Contributing: Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Police: Gunman in shooting rampage had 6 prior arrests in Aurora, Illinois, including domestic battery charges The term sophomore slump most frequently applies to other sports, but on paper it would certainly seem to fit 2017 O'Brien Award winner Alarm Detector. As a two-year-old, Alarm Detector was the cream of the crop. He won six of seven starts for his connections, finishing a strong second in his other appearance. He was pointed to the major events at three but only managed one win in 11 starts -- his three-year-old debut in his Goodtimes elimination. There were signs of promise, like his mid-July mile at The Meadowlands in which he did all the work for Six Pack in a division of the Stanley Dancer before finishing third in a world record 1:50 mile. Alarm Detector was race timed in 1:50.4 on that occasion but he was unable to come close to that speed for the rest of the year. Now four, Alarm Detector should not be discounted as a threat in the older trotting division. Co-owner Tom Rankin told Trot Insider that the son of Chapter Seven is back in training after a MRI noted some issues that could be impeding optimal performance. "We knew the previous year he had a bone bruise in one ankle." said Rankin, "but discovered he had bone bruises on both [ankles]." Rankin said that Alarm Detector received I.R.A.P. (Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Protein) therapy, a treatment that many of the sport's top trainers have used with positive results. Trained by Ben Baillargeon, Rankin co-owns Alarm Detector along with his wife Elizabeth, Claude Hamel of Ayer's Cliff, Que. and Santo Vena of Brampton, Ont. While no timetable has been established for a return to the racetrack, Rankin still has a ton of confidence in the four-year-old's abilities. "He has been off all fall; Ben just started jogging [in early January] but we are going to have both legs checked with MRI again. It is a slow healing process. "I have little doubt that he could [trot] in 1:50 if he's right." Payless ShoeSource began a liquidation sale Sunday after confirming Friday that it will close its 2,100 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The giant discount retailer also has discontinued online sales; its website payless.com is directing shoppers to find a nearby store. The company said all stores will remain open until at least the end of March and most will stay open until May. Payless, based in Topeka, Kansas, which has called itself, the largest specialty footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere, filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed 673 stores. The latest closings mark the biggest by a single chain this year, nearly doubling the number of retail stores set to shutter in 2019. Payless hours vary by location. Go to payless.com and click "find a store" for details about an outlet near you. But before you start bargain hunting, here are some things to keep in mind: 1. Don't necessarily expect great deals in the early days. Retailers know that consumers believe they can score outstanding discounts as soon as liquidation sales begin. For that reason, sales aren't always extraordinary in the early going. "Sometimes, at the beginning of a liquidation sale, a retailer may charge full price until inventory clears out," according to Consumer Reports. In fact, better deals may still be had elsewhere. "Just because a business is advertising that it is closing does not mean they are offering the lowest prices on merchandise," according to the Better Business Bureau. 2. Watch out for merchandise that's not typically sold at the store. Retailers often hire liquidators that specialize in winding down operations. Some cart in extra merchandise from other sources to supplement liquidation sales. Unsuspecting consumers may not know the difference. "To avoid these items, check the tags to see if they differ from the retailers usual tags," the California Society of CPAs advised. "If they do, consider carefully the quality and value of what youre buying." Story continues 3. The best sales might be available at the end of the process, but don't wait too long. Inventory dwindles rapidly toward the end of a liquidation sale. If you're concerned that the store will run out of your desired product, don't let the perfect deal be the enemy of the good discount. "In the case of product markdowns, managers often discount heavily at the end of the liquidation process in order to achieve 100 percent sell-through of inventory, with the belief that leftover product is a clear sign of poor performance," according to the Harvard Business School. 4. Understand the return policy. There's a good chance you won't be allowed to return a product from a liquidation sale after a purchase. Make sure you understand your options before proceeding with a purchase. For example, one retailer that recently liquidated, HHGregg, limited returns on items purchased during the liquidation to seven days and only on items "having a latent defect" that couldn't be "reasonably" identified by the buyer, according to a court filing. More: The best deals you can get this Presidents Day weekend More: Payless ShoeSource closing all 2,100 U.S. stores, starting liquidation sales Sunday More: For retailers who say "no cash,'' Philadelphia says no dice: bill bans cards only 5. Use gift cards. Retailers often ask and receive a federal judge's permission to honor gift cards during liquidation sales. But after the company is gone, your gift card is almost certainly useless. In the bankruptcy of bookstore chain Borders, for example, many people who failed to use their gift cards while the company liquidated were stuck with useless plastic after it was over. "Use those gift cards ASAP," the Better Business Bureau said. "Businesses that have entered into the liquidation process will not be around for very long and BBB advises consumers who are holding gift cards spend them as soon as possible or risk getting stuck with a worthless piece of plastic." Contributing: Nathan Bomey This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Payless liquidation sale prices: What you need to know about store closing sales By Alexander Cornwell ABU DHABI (Reuters) - South African defense company Paramount Group expects to sign agreements with four African governments this year to set up production facilities in their countries, its chairman said on Sunday. Paramount, Africa's largest privately owned defense firm, has established manufacturing capabilities to meet demand from specific domestic markets before, including in India, Jordan, and Kazakhstan. It is in talks with four countries in west and east Africa over deals that it expects to sign this year. A further three agreements could be signed in southern Africa in two years' time. "Africa really is innovative," Ivor Ichikowitz told Reuters at the IDEX military exhibition in Abu Dhabi. "There is a huge amount of skill. There is a huge amount of human capital on the African continent that makes what we are planning to do very achievable." Paramount, which has maintenance and overhaul operations in Africa, has started to implement some agreements, he said, declining to disclose further details. The company manufactures military vehicles, aircraft, ships, and weapons systems. It is also interested in working with governments on software, cyber security, and artificial intelligence, Ichikowitz said. Commenting on the potential shape of any deals, the company prefers to be a majority shareholder in a government joint venture with concessions to build domestic capabilities, he said. "We would implement long-term training, long-term capacity creation programs which would ultimately put us in a position where we are building a domestic defense industry in that country." Paramount has previously held talks with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two Middle East countries heavily investing in domestic defense industries. Ichikowitz declined to comment specifically on those talks but said that in the Middle East "there are substantial agreements close to finality". Paramount on Saturday launched a 4x4 version of its Mbombe armored personnel vehicle, which Ichikowitz said had been designed for the operational requirements of Middle East countries. He said he expected there would be regional demand for 4,000-5,000 of the vehicles over the next ten years. (Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Jan Harvey) AUBURN, Ala. (AP) An Alabama police officer who was shot multiple times after responding to reports of an armed robbery was recovering Saturday, while two suspects are believed to have died in a fire following a shootout. The incident began about 5:30 p.m. Friday, the Opelika-Auburn News reported. Auburn Officer Justin Sanders stopped a vehicle that fit the description of one driven by the suspects. As Sanders approached, police said the man opened fire, striking the 30-year-old officer at least four times. Sanders, five-year veteran of the department, was hospitalized in stable condition, Police Capt. Lorenza Dorsey said. The suspects fled and an ensuing manhunt tracked them to a nearby apartment complex. Dorsey said heavily armed officers in tactical gear surrounded the building. Gunfire then erupted, filling the air with noise and smoke. Residents from several blocks away heard the commotion, while nearby Auburn University issued warnings and a lockdown for the veterinary school. Residents fled the scene as the gunfire continued. "Get back! Bullets are flying everywhere!" one officer warned bystanders. "It sounded like fireworks going off," one man told the Opelika-Auburn News. A woman told the newspaper when she heard the gunfire she took cover in her bathtub. Officers tossed canisters of tear gas into the apartment, which caught fire, Dorsey said. The two suspects refused to exit. Authorities said their bodies were later found in the rubble. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris identified one of the suspects as Christopher James Wallace, 38. The identity of the other person, a woman, has not been released. Two people believed to be relatives of Wallace exited the apartment and were taken into custody as officers were trying to get the suspects from the apartment. After the fire was extinguished, authorities found the suspects' bodies in a back room of the apartment. Harris said the bodies will be taken to the medical examiner's office at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery for an autopsy to determine the cause of death and positive identification. ___ Information from: Opelika-Auburn News, http://www.oanow.com/ New York (AFP) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return an ancient gilded coffin to Egypt after New York prosecutors determined that it had been looted from that country, the museum said. The museum had purchased the prized coffin, dating from the first century BCE, in July 2017 from a Paris art dealer for a price of nearly four million dollars. But the Manhattan district attorney's office determined that the mummy-shaped golden coffin had been sold with fake documentation, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license. It was not clear what had sparked the district attorney's investigation. The statement Friday quoted Met CEO Daniel Weiss as apologizing to the Egyptian people and specifically to Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany. "After we learned that the Museum was a victim of fraud and unwittingly participated in the illegal trade of antiquities, we worked with the DA's office for its return to Egypt," Weiss said. The museum said it would "consider all available remedies to recoup the purchase price of the coffin" and would commit itself "to identifying how justice can be served, and how we can help to deter future offenses against cultural property." MoMA vowed to "review and revise its acquisitions process." The elaborately decorated coffin, viewed by nearly a half-million visitors since it was made the centerpiece of a major exhibition in July, is sheathed in gold, which the ancient Egyptians associated with the gods. It is inscribed with the name of Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis. The Met took the coffin off view this week to deliver it to the district attorney's office for its eventual return to Egypt. Washington (AFP) - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Saturday that no decision has been taken on funding President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico, a project that may come partly from redirected military funds. Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to address what he called an "invasion" of drugs, gangs, human traffickers and undocumented migrants over the US border with Mexico. The declaration means he would be able to sidestep Congress to access federal funds from elsewhere to help pay for building the border wall. The move however was immediatly challenged in court. "So very deliberately, we have not made any decisions. ... There has been no determination by me," Shanahan said on the way home from Germany. Trump wanted Congress to authorize $5.7 billion for a wall along parts of the border, but lawmakers provided just $1.375 billion for barriers, not a solid concrete wall. The White House said Friday that Trump will access $6.1 billion from two Pentagon sources: $3.6 billion from a military construction fund, and $2.5 billion from Defense Department counter-drug activity funds. "We always anticipated that this would create a lot of attention and since money potentially could be redirected, you can imagine the concerns this generates," Shanahan said. The Pentagon chief said he would "review that analysis now that the emergency has been declared. Based on that analysis, we can do an assessment of what would be appropriate." He added: "We are following the law. We are using the rules. We are not bending the rules." As a candidate, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for a wall. By Paul Carsten and Abraham Achirga DAURA/YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities postponed Saturday's national election by a week, just hours before polls had been due to open, prompting the opposition candidate to accuse President Muhammadu Buhari of seeking to "disenfranchise" voters. The electoral commission said the postponement was due solely to logistical factors and denied political pressure had played any part in the decision. Buhari and his rival, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, both urged voters to stay calm. Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, said the election would now be held on Feb. 23, adding that the date was "sacrosanct" and that campaigning would be suspended until then. Buhari, in power since 2015, faces a tight election contest against Atiku of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and its top oil producer. Nigerians expressed dismay and anger over the delay, in a country where 84 million people have registered to vote. Past elections have been marred by violence, intimidation and ballot-rigging, and the postponement raised the possibility of unrest. "They (the government) are not following the rule of law... This is a total ploy, it is not true that they are not ready" said opposition supporter Oscar Humphrey, 37, in the northern city of Kano, a key battlefield in the presidential race. In President Buhari's hometown of Daura in northern Nigeria, student Dauru Balarabi also expressed dismay, saying he had gone there specially to vote. "I spent my morning, my time, my energy for the elections so actually I am not happy," he said. The electoral commission's Yakubu attributed the decision to delays in transporting electoral materials. "(The postponement) has nothing to do with security, nothing to do with political influence, nothing to do with availability of resources," he told a gathering of foreign election observers and reporters. Story continues He said some sensitive election materials had been distributed but all had been retrieved and returned to the central bank and an audit would now be conducted. In Nigeria the central bank stores election materials for safe keeping. "DANGEROUS" PDP chairman Uche Secondus said the postponement was "dangerous to our democracy". He called it part of an attempt by Buhari to "cling on to power even when it's obvious to him that Nigerians want him out". Buhari, who was Nigeria's military ruler in the early 1980s, expressed disappointment over the delay but urged Nigerians in a statement to "refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united". Atiku urged voters to be patient but later said Buhari's administration was behind the delayed elections, without offering any evidence. "By instigating this postponement, the Buhari administration hopes to disenfranchise the Nigerian electorate in order to ensure that turnout is low on the rescheduled date," he said on Twitter. Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu declined to comment. Observer missions from the European Union, the African Union and other organisations urged Nigerians in a statement "to remain calm and supportive of the election process" and said the electoral commission must adhere strictly to the new date. "No matter who wins, it is now far more likely that the loser will contest the result and argue that the election has been compromised because sensitive materials are out there," said Bismarck Rewane, economist and CEO of Lagos-based consultancy Finance Derivatives. Situation Room, an organisation of more than 70 civil society groups, said the postponement had harmed the credibility of the electoral commission, creating "needless tension and confusion". Nigeria's presidential elections in 2011 and 2015 were also delayed over logistics and security issues. Six people were killed in a bomb blast in the northeastern city of Maiduguri by suspected Islamist militants on Saturday morning, the State Emergency Management Agency said, despite increased security measures in much of the country. Maiduguri is the capital of Borno, the state worst hit by the Boko Haram militant group and its offshoot, Islamic State in West Africa Province. Boko Haram had warned people not to vote. (Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram, Camillus Eboh, Ardo Hazzad, Lanre Ola, Aaron Ross, Garba Muhammad, Nneka Chile, Percy Dabang and Ahmed Kingimi; writing by James Macharia and Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Angus MacSwan and Gareth Jones) Following her record-breaking sale on Friday (Feb. 15), Trot Insider has confirmed that 2018 Hambletonian winner Atlanta will move to Ron Burke's barn for the 2019 racing season. The four-year-old mare by Chapter Seven - Hemi Blue Chip went for auction starting on Tuesday (Feb. 12) on an online auction website and sold to Michelle Crawford for $1.55 million, buying back the millionaire mare for owners Crawford Farms, Brad Grant, Howard Taylor and Holland Racing Stable. Her sale, according to Grant, was done so to dissolve a five-percent share of the horse since the previous ownership group, including trainer Rick Zeron, could not agree on a proper buyout deal. "We're happy, she's a great mare," said Grant after maintaining ownership. "There was a lot of serious interest in her, which shows that people believe she's a great mare. We'll move forward, and I want to wish Rick the best on his future endeavours, and hope things work out." Atlanta's auction served also to keep her eligible for stakes in the 2019 season with sustaining payments due on Feb. 15. Burke is coming off his third 1,000-win season and sixth straight campaign with more than $20 million in earnings. "Not often do you pick up a true champion," Burke posted on social media on Saturday night. "Thanks [Michelle Crawford], Brad Grant and Howard Taylor." Paris (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron condemned anti-Semitic abuse of a leading intellectual by "yellow vest" protestors and said it would not be tolerated. Police intervened to protect philosopher and writer Alain Finkielkraut after he was targeted by a group of protestors on the fringe of a demonstration in central Paris on Saturday, according to videos posted on social networks. "The anti-Semitic insults he has been subjected to are the absolute negation of what we are and what makes us a great nation. We will not tolerate it," Macron tweeted. "The son of Polish immigrants who became a French academician, Alain Finkielkraut is not only a prominent man of letters but the symbol of what the Republic allows everyone," the president added in another tweet. Several protestors shouted "Dirty Zionist," "We are the people" and "France is ours", according to a video broadcast by Yahoo! News. "I felt absolute hatred and, unfortunately, this is not the first time," Finkielkraut, 69, told Journal du Dimanche. "I would have been afraid if there had not been the police, fortunately they were there," he told the newspaper, while adding that not all the demonstrators were hostile towards him and one even suggested he put on a vest and join the demonstration while another hailed his work. Finkielkraut has expressed his solidarity and sympathy with the "yellow vest" protestors from the outset but in an interview published Saturday in Le Figaro, he criticised the leaders of the movement, saying that "arrogance has changed sides". Saturday's incident triggered a wave of condemnation and messages of support for the philosopher. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said it was "simply intolerable" while the leader of the Republicans opposition party, Laurent Wauquiez, denounced the "abject idiots." Ian Brossat, chief French Communist Party candidate for the European Parliament, said "We can hate Finkielkraut's ideas", but "nothing can justify attacking him as a Jew". Story continues Finkielkraut, who is seen as having pro-establishment beliefs, has since January 2016 been a member of the French Academy, the prestigious institution in charge of defining the French language. A recent spate of anti-Semitic vandalism and graffiti in and around Paris has stoked fresh concerns about an increase in hate crime against Jews. Fourteen political parties Thursday launched a call for action against anti-Semitism after the interior ministry reported a 74 percent increase in anti-Jewish acts last year. The "yellow vest" protests began three months ago over fuel taxes but quickly grew into a broader anti-government rebellion fuelled by hatred of Macron, with some using anti-Semitic tropes to refer to his former job as an investment banker. Over the past century, hundreds of once-familiar brand names have been shipped off to the automotive scrapyard, but two long-dead makes will be vying for a revival next month at the annual Geneva International Motor Show. To find a place in a rapidly evolving auto industry, British-based Lagonda and Spain's Hispano Suiza are looking forward into the past, blending heritage with futuristic technology, including all-electric drivetrains. The emergence of electrified powertrains and autonomous driving, experts suggest, could open the door not only to new players like Tesla, but provide an opportunity to bring back some old brands. Battery technology "isn't ready for the mainstream, but the luxury market is a different matter," said David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "With luxury vehicles, the cost of batteries isn't a big deal," but the potential benefits, including extreme levels of performance, can provide an appealing alternative to conventional gas-powered models. The Geneva Motor Show would seem the ideal place to launch two old-is-new luxury brands, according to Cole and others. The largest of the European auto shows, which opens March 7 and is held each spring, has a tradition of providing space for often oddball brands looking to carve off slivers of the global new-car market, typically with an emphasis on premium niches. Hispano Suiza was once a regular participant in Geneva. The company's roots date to 1898 when a Spanish artillery captain, Emilio de la Cuadra, started building electric vehicles in Barcelona. He hired a Swiss engineer, Marc Birkigt, to work with him, though the company eventually switched to gas-powered models. In a series of moves, the enterprise changed hands several times, finally adopting the name La Hispano-Suiza Fabrica de Automoviles in 1904. It became famous for its over-the-top designs and massive gas engines, still popular with collectors like comedian Jay Leno . Story continues Hispano Suiza briefly produced aircraft engines after World War I before returning to automotive manufacturing. But it abandoned the car market entirely in 1946, and several attempts to revive the name have faltered. Now, the fourth-generation heirs hope to do a bit better with a retro-futuristic "hypertourer" called the Carmen named after the granddaughter of Hispano Suiza's founder and mother of its current chief. The Carmen, a company statement notes, "takes inspiration from the Dubonnet Xenia, one of the elegant and luxurious vehicles built by Hispano Suiza in 1938." The Carmen may hark back to the days of rumble seats and running boards, but under the skin there's an ultra-modern carbon fiber chassis, and the new model trade's the Xenia's 8.0-liter gas engine for an all-electric drivetrain. The decision to go all-electric isn't entirely surprising. Battery power is an option a number of super-premium manufacturers are exploring, from start-ups like Rimac to established brands such as Ferrari and Lamborghini. Electric motors provide massive amounts of instant torque, as Tesla (TSLA) has shown with its Model S in "ludicrous mode," which can launch the sedan from 0 to 60 in just 2.3 seconds. Another manufacturer plugging into battery power is Aston Martin. It recently launched a limited run of all-electric sedans and is developing a battery drive option for the DBX sport-utility vehicle it will launch next year. But Aston's big push into electrification will come with the revival of another long-forgotten brand it purchased back in 1947. The last Lagonda-branded model hit the streets decades ago. But it will be back at the Geneva Motor Show in the form of the all-terrain concept. Though officially dubbed a show car, it is a thinly disguised version of the production crossover due to come to the market in about two years, Aston officials acknowledge. "The Lagonda All-Terrain Concept offers explicit clues regarding what will be the first Lagonda model to enter production, and further demonstrates how Lagonda's zero emission powertrain enables us to create spectacular cars that will radically redefine their sectors of the market," Aston CEO Andy Palmer said in a statement. The revival of Lagonda was put into motion as part of the seven-year plan Palmer laid out after joining the British automaker in 2014. A second model, a sedan, is expected to join the crossover by around 2022. And, like the all-terrain, it will be all-electric as will all future Lagondas, Palmer told CNBC in an interview last fall. Neither Aston nor Hispana Suiza has announced pricing, though both models are expected to push well into six figures, the Carmen potentially topping $1 million, according to various reports that compare it to other ultra-low-volume hypercars. It remains to be seen if either brand name will pull off a comeback but both manufacturers are hoping that by going all-electric they can stand out from more traditionally focused competitors. The pregnant 19-year-old has said she fears her baby, due to be born anytime now, will be taken from her if she manages to return to Britain - REUTERS The family of Bethnal Green teenager Shamima Begum have urged the British government to give them custody of her unborn child while she faces the prospect of imprisonment for supporting Islamic State. The pregnant 19-year-old has said she fears her baby, due to be born anytime now, will be taken from her if she manages to return to Britain after leaving the country in 2015 to join the terror group in Syria. Now her family have said that if she were to face a custodial sentence for her support of a terrorist organisation they will step in to raise the child, rather than the taxpayer having to pick up the cost. Muhammad Rahman, 36, whose brother is married to Shamimas elder sister Renu, told The Sunday Telegraph: Her parents would want custody of the baby. They would want to look after their grandchild. I dont think people, feeling the way many do about what Shamima has done, would want the state to pick up the burden of looking after the child. Once in Syria she was married off to Yago Riedijk, 26, a Muslim convert from the Netherlands and bore him two children Mr Rahman added: Its in our culture for the rest of the family to step in and look after the children when theres a problem and would make Shamima feel better if she ends up serving a prison sentence and she knows her parents are looking after her baby. Both her parents are alive and are capable of looking after the baby. Hopefully then Shamima can be reunited with her baby after she has been freed from any spell in custody. It comes after her family pleaded with the Government to treat the case as a "matter of urgency", as they said in a statement that the "welfare of Shamimas unborn baby is of paramount concern". Shamimas parents are now consulting their lawyer about the prospect of legal action against the British government to force it to allow the teenager back into the country. Ben Wallace, the Home Office minister in charge of security, last week rebuffed Shamimas plea to be rescued from the Syrian refugee camp where she is currently stranded, saying her actions have consequences. Story continues At the same time Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, has said he would use all his available powers to prevent her return. But Shamimas family believe that flies in the face of both common humanity and the British states responsibility towards one of its own citizens. Mr Rahman said: Shamimas family are taking the advice of their solicitor as to what to do next and that might well involve legal action to force the Government to allow her to return to Britain. That is certainly one prospect. Family members say that while they recognise she may face prosecution and may have to undertake a period of intensive rehabilitation to ensure she presents no threat to the public, they also argue that Britain cannot simply dump its problem citizens on another country. Her family are of Bangladeshi origin, but Shamima - who is nine months pregnant - was raised and schooled in London until falling under the spell of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Once in Syria she was married off to Yago Riedijk, 26, a Muslim convert from the Netherlands and bore him two children, who both died while babies. She said in an interview with The Times on Saturday: "What do you think will happen to my child? Because I dont want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family. Mr Rahman, who works as an electrician, said: I can understand why many people in Britain do not want Shamima to be allowed back into the country after what she has done. I know people are scared about what she might do if she came back, if she might still be dangerous, but she went as a 15-year-old and I dont know how a 15-year-old can make make such a decision with any responsibility. She was a minor when she left and she has surely been brainwashed when she was out there. If theres any possibility of a good outcome being achieved, by helping her to return and go through some sort of rehabilitation, it should be tried. The 36-year-old family man, who lives in a house in east London previously occupied by Shamimas sister Renu, added: They want to be reunited as a family again. She is their daughter. If she is remorseful and can be set back on the right path then perhaps we can be compassionate as a society and think the best of people. Every family wants to think the best of their children and their close ones but they had no idea she was being led down the path she was otherwise they would have tried to stop her. They think the best of their daughter and whatever difficulties she comes back with they believe they can fix. Mr Rahman said Shamimas decision to leave Britain and travel to Syria in February 2015, aged just 15, with her two friends from Bethnal Green Academy, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, had stunned her family, who had always considered themselves hard working people trying to do their best for their children. I first met her when she was a little girl, just 11, and she was just a normal little girl. When I heard that she had left the country to travel to Syria it was completely out of the blue, both for me and her family. There is no way they would have let her do that if they had known she was planning to leave like that. Tasnime Akunjee, solicitor for the three families of the Bethnal Green girls with Mayfair law firm Farooq Bajwa & Co, yesterday questioned whether the Home Secretary had the power to prevent Shamima returning to Britain. Writing on Twitter he said: Sajid Javid the home secretary, does he understand UK laws? Earlier Mr Akunjee stated: It looks as if Mr Javid is trying to oppose that. I dont believe he has the legal grounds or tools to stop her coming back. The event was attended by Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political-Security Community Hoang Anh Tuan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN of Economic Community Aladdin D. Rillo, Permanent Under-Secretary at the UKs Foreign and Commonwealth Office Simon McDonald, and British ambassadors from the 10 ASEAN member states. Representatives from both sides agreed to prioritise cooperation in the fields of trade and investment, capital market, education, science, security, future cities, and cyberspace, according to a press release of the UK Embassy in Indonesia. The UK will appoint a new ambassador for the ASEAN in 2019 to strengthen bonds between the two sides, said Simon McDonald, adding that the UK has always appreciated the role of Asian countries, including the ten ASEAN member states, having set up 50 diplomatic representative offices in the region. Talking to the press after the meeting, he said that the ASEAN Secretariat is an ideal destination to discuss the future of ASEAN-UK cooperation. McDonald said as a dynamic area, the ASEAN, alongside China and India, will create momentum for the global economy throughout the 21st century, he underlined. He also affirmed that the UK stands ready to expand relations with its partners in the ASEAN bloc and build alliances for the future. I suppose I wanted to lull myself into thinking I was in the English countryside, Lee Radziwill, who died last night at the age of 85, said in ADs January 1982 issue, when the magazine put her Park Avenue dining room, photographed by Derry Moore, on its cover. Derry Moore The comment surely had deeper meaning, perhaps more than she even knew; one can imagine it having been delivered in a wistful tone. The apartment was filled with flowers and plantsreal but also printed, woven, blocked, embroidered, and more, making it a virtual bower, an American evocation of Turville Grange, the beloved Buckinghamshire getaway that Radziwill had left behind when she and her second husband divorced in 1974. Creating and inhabiting domestic greenhouses was a leitmotif, flower-filled spaces where, inevitably, she herself was the most important bloom of allan iris, perhapsfragile in appearance yet steely enough to rise above any romantic upset or financial drought. Arguably, to her eternal irritation, Radziwill was best known as Jacqueline Kennedys younger sister. Books have explored the sibling rivalry between first lady and first sister, as well as Radziwills three marriages (Michael Canfield, an illegitimate son of Englands royal duke of Kent; Stanislas Radziwill, a Polish prince, and Herbert Ross, the American film producer), her love affairs (from shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who married Jackie, to artist Peter Beard), and her aspirations to be more than just an extremely pretty face. There was the brief acting career that resulted in rapturous headlines and dreadful reviews, and her years as a soignee public-relations executive for Giorgio Armani, whose luxuriously minimalist clothes she wore with great distinction, as she did those of Ralph Rucci. In 1998, she announced that she would write her memoirs, though nothing came of that save two album-style books, Happy Times (Assouline, 2012) and Lee (Assouline, 2015), both of them long on style and thin on text. Story continues Horst P. Horst In 1976, Radziwill announced that she had become an interior decorator, opening Lee Radziwill Inc. Her first big client was Americana Hotels, for which she designed private suites; its president had visited her apartment after seeing it in AD and had been impressed by her style and, obviously, her celebrity. She also unveiled model rooms at Lord & Taylor, the legendary Fifth Avenue department store that recently met its demise. I think Ive finally gotten the right slot, Radziwill told The New York Times in an article about her new profession, even though she admitted she had no training of any kind except working on her own homes. Yet, she added, I have a good background in the history of art, because that was the subject that really interested me. She also expected the this career to last. I wanted a fulltime joband now I've really got it. And in this field, she added, I think I'm as good as anybody. And why not? As AD100 interior designer Jeffrey Bilhuber said today in an interview about her taste, Shes the only American woman who innately understood French refinement, be it fashion, interiors, or men. Richard Champion Design had always been a fascinationfilm, ballet, theater, fashion, and interior. At the age of 17, for instance, Caroline Lee Bouvier, as she then was, devised a dramatically contemporary apartmentpurple, white, black, and redfor her stepbrother Yusha Auchincloss. During her marriage to Canfield, I once was told, she worked with fashionable New York City decorator Michael Greer, though she reportedly decorated the couples London home, 45 Chester Square, on her own and to wide-eyed wonder. The place was full of antiques and only the best of the best, a friend later recalled. After her 1959 marriage to Radziwill, she hired the London tastemaker Felix Harbord, and then Renzo Mongiardino, the Academy Award-winning Italian set designer who also created poetic, atmospheric interiors for the jet set. Under Mongiardinos directions, Turville Grange and the Radziwills townhouse near Buckingham Palace became two of the most widely published and still influential private residences of the 1960s. Her rooms were gloriously pretty, said ADs editor in chief, Amy Astley. Most seductive of all was Radziwills London drawing room, a long, narrow, deflatingly character-free space that Mongiardino transformed into a modern evocation of an Ottoman seraglio, its walls paneled with Indian fabrics. It was there that Radziwill was iconically photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1966, posing like an odalisque with her young daughter, Tina, on a sumptuous divan. Cecil Beaton Radziwills later homes were widely published, too, though precious few of her professional jobs; Lee Radziwill Inc. simply faded away in less than a decade. Back in 2009, when I worked for Elle Decor, I interviewed Mrs. Radziwill in her apartment on East 72nd Street in Manhattan for an article about it and her flat in Paris. Bits and pieces of her former addresses were in evidence, among them a giltwood mirror from her Harbord-decorated drawing room in London and 19th-century Anglo-Indian botanical artworks that had been given to her by David Somerset, handsomest man in England and the future 11th duke of Beaufortwhether a friend or a lover has never been clear. She displayed those watercolors at Turville Grange for a while, in her daughters Manhattan bedroom in the 1970s, in her own New York City dining room in the 1990s, and, by 2013, in her Paris living room. Last year, she gave them to fashion designer Tory Burch, whose Fall 2018 collection was inspired by Radziwills floriferous chic. Derry Moore As Radziwill walked me through her rooms a decade ago, flower prints, as always, were in abundance, especially at the rear of the apartment, where the same patterns were used en suite, for walls, upholstery, and curtains. One could not help recalling the place that she once called a house of flowers, Turville Grange, a place that she probably had loved more than any other, yet also where a boldface marriage had failed. A house should be a scrapbook, Radziwill told me in her alluring, very deliberately cadenced, low and husky voice as we nestled into a sofa, even if not every memory is a particularly pleasant one. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) Kosovo has marked the 11th anniversary of its declaration of independence from Serbia with a parade featuring soldiers from the national army it created last year despite opposition. President Hashim Thaci said the infantry troops carrying light weaponry on Sunday paraded as a "professional, multiethnic army serving the youngest country in the world." Kosovo, a former Serbian province, transformed its security forces into a regular army last year despite Serbia's warnings it could lead to conflict. Some western nations advised a postponement. A 1998-99 war for independence ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign. The U.N. then ran Kosovo until its 2008 declaration of independence, which is recognized by 116 countries, but not by Serbia. Thousands of people watched the parade in downtown Pristina, which was decorated with national, Albanian and U.S. flags. 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). 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. Guwahati : Advisor and former president of the Manipur Students Association Delhi (MSAD) Thokchom Veewon has been arrested by police in Delhi on Friday evening. According to the reports, the Manipur police had arrested Thokchom with the help of Delhi police from his rental home at Saket in South Delhi. The Manipur police had registered a case against the Manipur student leader under sedition charges, who has been vocal against Manipur journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhems arrest under the National Security Act (NSA) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. According to the sources, Manipur police had registered a case (no 13(2)/2019) against Thokchom under sedition charges. Thokchom Veewon, has been currently kept at Janakpuri police station in New Delhi and likely to be taken to Manipur on February 16. It is to be mentioned that, Manipur police had arrested Javed mehedi, vice president of MSAD. Earlier, Thokchom Veewon posted on social media that, Manipur police visited his house, took photographs of his parents and threatened his parents to silence him. In December last year, Manipur police had arrested 39-year-old Kishorechand Wangkhem, a Manipur based scribe, under the National Security Act (NSA) following his derogatory comments against the Manipur Chief Minister and the both BJP-led governments at centre and Manipur. Kishorechand Wangkhem, a journalist of a local cable network channel had uploaded videos on social media on November 19 last year in both English and Meitei languages and using some obscene word against the Manipur CM and the BJP-led government at the centre and in Manipur, was sentenced to a 12-month jail term. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) 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 [] Aurora shooting suspect opened fire during termination meeting: Police originally appeared on abcnews.go.com A "disgruntled" worker of an Illinois factory opened fire after being called into a meeting to terminate his employment, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was shot dead in a gunfight, officials said Saturday. Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the suspect, Gary Martin, 45, committed Friday's massacre at the sprawling Henry Pratt Company in Aurora with a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun he should have never been able to possess because of 1995 felony conviction. Ziman said investigators believe Martin brought the gun to work because he apparently suspected he was going to be terminated from his job. Killed in the rampage were the company's human resource manager, the plant manager, two warehouse workers and a 21-year-old human resource intern and student at Northern Illinois University who was on his first day of work at the plant. Another worker at the plant was shot and wounded but expected to survive. Ziman said four officers were shot by the gunman in the upper and lower extremities within minutes of arriving on the scene. A fifth officer suffered shrapnel wounds, she said. A sixth officer suffered a minor injury unrelated to the gunfire while responding to the scene, Ziman said. PHOTO: Gary Martin is pictured in this undated photo released by Aurora Illinois Police Department. (Aurora Illinois Police Department) The wounded officers ranged in from age 24 to 53 and have been members of the Aurora Police department between four and 30 years. Ziman said all of them suffered non-life-threatening injuries and four remained in hospitals on Saturday. Ziman said 911 dispatchers began receiving calls about 1:24 p.m. that there was an active shooter inside the 30,000-square-foot warehouse, where water-pump equipment, pipes and valves are manufactured and stored. Dispatchers could hear shots being fired in the 911 calls, officials said. PHOTO: Police officers armed with rifles stage near a commercial building where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Feb. 15, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images) The chief said Martin reported for work Friday morning and was called into a meeting, where he was informed he was being fired. Story continues "My understanding from the witnesses is that he opened fire right after the termination," Ziman said. "We can surmise that he was speculative about what was going to happen as evidenced by him arming himself with a firearm." She said investigators are still conducting interviews with Henry Pratt employees to determine why Martin was being terminated after 15 years of employment at the company. Scott Hall, chief executive officer of Henry Pratt's parent company Mueller Water Products, said during a news conference Saturday that Martin was being fired for a culmination of various workplace rules violations. He declined to reveal specifics of the rules violations. "In the days and weeks ahead, we will be reviewing every aspect of this tragedy and the steps we need to ensure this horrible incident is never repeated," Hall said. Hall also said Martin's felony conviction did not surface when he underwent a background check before he was hired. Martin is believed to have killed Clayton Parks, Henry Pratt's human resource manager; Josh Pinkard, the plant manager; and Trevor Wehner, a human resource intern, Ziman said. Wehner was a student at Northern Illinois University expected to graduate in May; Parks was an alumnus of the school. The president of the university, Lisa Freeman, said she announced their deaths with "deep sadness." She added that Friday was Wehner's first day as an intern at Henry Pratt. Parks graduated from the university in 2014, Freeman said. "Loss like this is devastating and senseless," she said in the statement. "I ask our university community to please keep the Wehner and Parks families, friends and communities in your hearts and offer them caring thoughts." PHOTO: Police in Illinois respond to calls of an active shooter in Aurora. (Megan Jones/Beacon News/TNS via Newscom) Also killed in the shooting were Russell Byer, a mold operator at the facility, and Vicente Juarez, a stockroom attendant and forklift operator, Ziman said. The first police officers who arrived at the warehouse were immediately confronted by Martin, who allegedly opened fire on them near a front entrance, police said. Four officers were shot in the first seven minutes of the confrontation with Martin, said Deputy Chief Keefe Jackson. At least eight SWAT teams and up to 300 officers from numerous surrounding law enforcement agencies swarmed the warehouse and began searching for the gunman and removing victims from the facility, Jackson said. Lt. Rick Robertson of the Aurora Police Department said police used an armored vehicle to breach the building, crashing through a glass door. "There was the initial contact with the officers, and then after those shots, everything went quiet," Robertson said. According to a timeline of the incident released by police officials, it took officers until 2:58 p.m. to locate the gunman hiding in the massive facility. "He was in a machine shop at the very back corner of the building, farthest from the area that we made entry into the building," Robertson said. "He was probably waiting for us to get to him there in the way it appears and there were some shots exchanged when the officers made their way into that area." PHOTO: Police in Illinois respond to calls of an active shooter in Aurora. (WLS) Ziman said Martin was shot multiple times by police. She said it remains unclear if police killed him or if he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She said investigators found a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun equipped with a laser near Martin, and several spent magazines. She said numerous bullet casings were found throughout the warehouse. (MORE: https://abcnews.go.com/US/active-shooter-situation-reported-illinois/story?id=61107650&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_heads_hero_live_hero_hed) Ziman said Martin purchased the handgun in March 2014 from a gun dealer in Aurora after being issued a firearm owners' identification card in January of that year. She said when Martin applied for a concealed carry permit on March 16, 2014, he submitted his fingerprints for a background check. But by that time he had already taken possession of the gun, she said. "During the fingerprinting and background process it was discovered that he had a felony conviction for aggravated assault out of Mississippi. The date of that conviction was Aug. 3, 1995," Ziman said. (MORE: Kansas Workplace Shooting Suspect Identified as Cedric Larry Ford, Sources Say) She said once the conviction was discovered, Illinois State Police issued him a letter ordering him to surrender his gun, but he did not comply. Ziman said it remains under investigation whether police made contact with Martin in order to get him to relinquish the weapon. (MORE: 2 Airmen Dead in 'Workplace Violence' Shooting at Texas Air Force Base) "Absolutely, he was not supposed to be in possession of a firearm," Ziman said. She noted that the conviction would not have necessarily shown up on the criminal background check he underwent to get his firearms identification card. Ziman also said records showed that Aurora police had arrested Martin six times in incidents ranging from traffic violations, domestic battery and a 2008 arrest on suspicion of violating an order of protection. She said he was last arrested in 2017 by Oswego, Illinois, police on suspicion of disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property. A still from Welcome to the N.H.K. Photo: ADV Films Luca lives with his parents outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, though he might as well live anywhere. Thats because the only times the 21-year-old leaves his room is to buy Camels, which he smokes in his garage. Mostly he spends his time in his room posting on Reddit, gaming, and watching anime. He sleeps all day, wakes up at six in the evening, and pops Benadryl around nine in the morning so he can go back to sleep. Hes been reliving the same exact day almost every day for close to a decade. All of this, he told me over Reddit DMs, started at age 12. Hed get so anxious in class that hed forget how to swallow, so his mom let him take online classes instead. Eventually he dropped out of online high school, too. At 15, he discovered Welcome to the N.H.K. an anime about a broadcasting companys conspiracy to manufacture a generation of shut-ins which provided Luca with a term that he felt gave a philosophical justification for the way he lives his life. Instead of the world telling me to go to school and get a job, I quit school and decided to go on a personal rebellion, he told me. I learned of the term hikikomori and realized that was me and that was what I am. In 1978, a researcher named Yoshimi Kasahara first described cases of ordinary Japanese people with an anxiety so extreme that they were shutting themselves in their rooms. It was unclear why these patients were exhibiting what he called withdrawal neurosis at the time, and were not really much closer to untangling whatever biological or social conditions (higher levels of uric acid?) that might cause what the Japanese have called hikikomori, which translates to something like pulling inward, since the late 80s or so. Some hikikomori which is used as both a noun and an adjective, like alcoholic seemed to be reacting to the expectation that they would enter into a single job and remain there until retirement. Unable or unwilling to cope with whats known as salaryman culture, they avoided society entirely. By 2003, there were enough people who could be diagnosed with the condition that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare published a 141-page white paper defining the term. According to the official governmental report, hikikomori show no interest in personal development or friendship for more than six months but dont meet the criteria of schizophrenia or other mental disorders. In 2016, a government survey found evidence of 541,000 hikikomori living in a country of 127 million people. For years, hikikomori was thought to be a culture-bound syndrome something so specifically Japanese that it could never appear beyond its borders. That concept has since fallen out of favor, and now one researcher named Alan Teo believes that something similar is cropping up in the States that American hikikomori now comprise a distinct, socially challenged subset of the people not in education, employment, or training (often called NEETs). Teo first learned about hikikomori while studying in Kyoto, and when he eventually started his practice in the Bay Area, he began translating literature about the concept into English. In 2010, he was contacted by the mother of a 30-year-old man he calls Mr. H. She was seeking help for her anime-loving son, who had come across one of Teos translations and diagnosed himself. Teo encouraged Mr. H. to come by his office at the University of California in San Francisco for treatment, despite the fact that would mean stepping outside for the first time in three years. Mr. H. wore a leather jacket that reeked of cigarette smoke, had mangy hair, didnt shower, and had long fingernails. During the first and most severe year, he remained within a walk-in closet, ate only-ready-to-eat food, did not bathe, and urinated and defecated in jars and bottles, Teo would later write in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry. He passed the time surfing the internet and playing video games. Tests run on Mr. H showed seemingly conflicting results. While he exhibited traits consistent with obsessive compulsive and schizoid personality disorders, various scales and inventories concluded he had neither. Mr. H. claimed his reclusiveness was based on something pretty simple: He just didnt want to be a part of the world, which is both what hikikomori in Japan had long said and basically what Luca told me. We have a large number of people [in the United States] in their early 20s living in the basement bedroom, Teo told me. Often times it is younger men. Struggling with work. Struggling with launching. There is some element of still being stuck in an earlier developmental stage, like that of an adolescent, even though their physical age is that of an adult. Statistics certainly suggest that theres an underemployment crisis among young people in the United States: The Economic Policy Institute put that rate among recent college graduates at 12.6 percent. Some researchers have suggested that recreational computer use including increasingly life-consuming video games accounts for somewhere between 23 and 46 percent of the decrease in young mens participation in the labor force. (Others regard that finding with skepticism.) One could convincingly argue that NEETdom is a logical response to the fact that the average college graduate in 2016 came out of school about $37,172 in debt something that may be impossible to pay off with menial labor at, say, a local fast-food place. If youre slated for a life of crippling debt, and you can get all of your social needs met online, then why even bother working? For his part, Luca thinks: I refuse to work for $8 at Taco Bell and be anothers lackey when I am my own god. According to a 2015 Pew study, about 10 million NEETs exist in the United States, though statistics break down when you try to get much more granular than that in terms of maladjusted men Carnegie Mellon University professor Simon DeDeo did some back-of-the-napkin math using U.S. census data to put the number of incels (the self-chosen name for involuntary celibates, young misogynists who gather online to commiserate at their lack of romantic or sexual attachment) at an estimated 700,000. Teo cant come up with a number of how many hikikomori there might be in the United States, though hes personally assessed ten Americans he believes suffer from it as part of his formal research and says that he hears from someone almost like clockwork every month who is concerned that they or their family member fits the definition. Meanwhile, anecdotal evidence that people are, at least, choosing to identify as hikikomori abounds online. There are, for instance, subreddits, such as r/hikikomori, where roughly 2,000 people gather to discuss anime and gaming, as well as ways to obtain money from the government without leaving their rooms. YouTube videos with names like Top 10 Ways to Make Money as a Hikikomori rack up comments, and sections of 4chan, such as R9K, are notorious posting grounds for English-speaking, anime-obsessed, socially incompetent NEETS. Its difficult to medically classify hikikomori though its not in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual its probably best to think about it as a folk illness like evil eye. After all, hikikomori definitionally cant exist in everywhere: An illness that causes you to lock yourself in your own bedroom makes sense in Japan or America or even a developing nation like Oman, where theres been at least one documented case but its much harder to imagine it happening to many people in, say, certain nomadic areas of Mongolia where people live in communal tents. However, given that the norms and idioms of a particular culture influence how people describe their symptoms, its worth considering how noncommunicable diseases can be spread on the internet and whether or not what scientists now call a cultural syndrome as opposed to a culture-bound syndrome can even exist in the age of Reddit. Prior to the invention of the internet, its unclear how a kid in North Carolina like Luca would have even stumbled across that anime he was telling me about Welcome to the N.H.K., about the heroic NEET. He definitely wouldnt have found a community of other angsty teens who decided their unhealthy habits made them part of a subculture. Mr. H. wouldnt have found Teo, and I wouldnt have found Alvin, who lives with his mother in Flushing, Queens. When it came time to apply for college, Alvin got so anxious that he would hide in the bathroom during class. He hasnt left his home, which his mother bought with family money, since dropping out about four years ago. Like Luca, the 22-year-old discovered a term online that he felt explained the condition he felt hed been suffering from since birth. I pretty much fit right into that name, so I have called myself a hikikomori ever since, he told me over Reddit when we first started messaging back in July. That summer, his goal was to drive for Uber, because it would allow him to take breaks whenever he wanted. But after seven months of being unable to leave the house, he instead ending up taking his own taxi to the emergency room. Alvin went to a psychiatric hospital, and then to an outpatient program where he was eventually assigned a social worker. She wanted to get him gainful employment, as well as the wherewithal to accomplish some simple goals, such as checking out Hudson Yards and maybe a few museums. When I checked in with Alvin six months later, he told me about an ill-fated job with Target. There have been some slight wins: Hell leave the house solely to go grocery shopping or to work out at his local YMCA, though only for those reasons, and he still considers himself hikikomori. Its unclear if hell slide back to where he was when we met online. After all, despite the fact that throughout course of about 25 counseling sessions, Mr. H. was deemed in remission and ended up getting a part-time job, Teo told me he since relapsed. For his part, Luca says he gave the world one last chance after meeting a girl on Twitter a few years back, though decided to never leave the house again after she broke his heart. No matter what they call themselves, or why they decide to shut themselves away from the world, a generations worth of extreme shut-ins would potentially portend disaster for the American economy. The so-called 2030 problem in Japan refers to the approximate point at which many parents of the first generation of hikikomori will hit their 60s. What social safety net could the government realistically provide for people who havent gone outside nevermind worked for decades? As of last year, Japan was funding more than 50 community support centers for hikikomori. Meanwhile, Americans are newly obsessed with unproductive young men, though there hasnt been much research on how to help them. Teos spent the years since those first sessions with Mr. H in search of a definition of hikikomori thats consistent across cultures. In October 2018, he published a 25-item questionnaire that asked participants to what degree they related to statements such as, People bother me and There really is not anyone very significant in my life. The ensuing data showed robust psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy among an initial sample of about 400 Japanese adults. Hes hoping he can at least help other clinicians start to think about these issues. In the meantime, Luca survives off the disability checks his mother also a home-staying person receives. He hopes that government will develop a treatment plan for American hikikomori as well as social programs to help support them as they transition into the working world. But for now he says that the only things he misses about normalcy is being able to buy his own cigarettes and the panoply of lottery tickets he used to stare at while the cashier rang up his smokes. Hes desperate for companionship, but he says he would rather die homeless than end up serving hamburgers. Its better, he thinks, to spend his nights surfing Reddit in a Benadryl haze. Theres no asshole boss in my room standing at my door going, Wash those walls for six hours, then you can take 15 minute break by laying in your bed, he told me. Its the opposite of a prison. It is freedom. Theres no one in here but me. I can do whatever, whenever. Going outside is a prison. But this room this room is clarity. By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives during his visit to Pakistan starting on Sunday, Pakistani government sources said, part of efforts to broker an end to Afghanistan's 17-year-old civil war. Pakistan has been playing an increasingly vital role in the Afghanistan peace talks, which have been gathering momentum in recent months amid a growing U.S. desire to pull out its troops. Along with other Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia has been part of the peace negotiations and is seen to have some sway over the Afghan Taliban militants due to Riyadh's historical ties with the hardline Islamist group and the kingdom's religious clout as the birthplace of Islam. Two senior Pakistani officials said the crown prince was likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives in Islamabad, where the militants, fighting to restore strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan after their 2001 ouster, say they are due to meet U.S. representatives and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. "Though it is top secret so far, there are strong indications representatives of the Afghan Taliban will meet Prince Salman during their visit of Pakistan on February 18," one of the Pakistani officials in Islamabad said. A senior Taliban leader in Qatar said no decision had been made on whether they would meet the crown prince. "Actually meeting Prince Salman is not in the plan so far but we can discuss it when we are in Islamabad," said the Taliban representative. Pakistan's Foreign Office and Saudi Arabia's government did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The crown prince is expected to stay to leave Pakistan on Monday after signing a raft of investment agreements in the energy sector for more than $10 billion. But his trip, which Islamabad is treating as the biggest state visit in years, risks being overshadowed by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following a militant attack on Indian security forces in the disputed Kashmir region. New Delhi says Pakistan had a hand in the attack by a militant group which is based on Pakistani soil, something Islamabad denies. (Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Nick Macfie) Morocco is celebrating a series of diplomatic victories on the Sahara issue, the latest of which is the US 2019 appropriation bill providing for extending the funds allocated to Morocco to the Sahara. The Polisario and its mentor Algeria have launched maneuvers aiming at undermining Moroccos sovereignty over its southern provinces by using the economic card. The US appropriation bill, signed into law Friday by President Donald Trump and stipulating explicitly that the assistance funds allocated to Morocco will also benefit the Sahara, is another utter defeat for the separatist camp after the EU parliament approved the fisheries deal on Feb. 12 and before that, on Jan.16, the agricultural agreement, which both cover the Sahara. In adopting the bill, US lawmakers renew their strong bipartisan support for a negotiated solution to the Sahara dispute, based on autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty, and encourage US private sector to invest in the Sahara. The Polisairos challenge to these agreements was considered by the EU top court as invalid as the separatist entity, headquartered in the authoritarian Algerian state, is not eligible to plea or claim to represent the population in the Sahara who have their own legitimate elected bodies. This has been stressed by a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that stressed that the Polisario is unqualified to challenge the Moroccan-EU agricultural agreement and that the agreements do not concern the Polisario Front. The latest decisions by the USA and the EU stress Moroccos pre-eminence as sole interlocutor in negotiating international agreements covering the Sahara, a fact that is boosted by the reality on the ground. Since 2017, the polisarios attempt at legally challenging Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara through challenging economic agreements have been foiled. In Latin America, precisely in Uruguay, the Polisario attempted to incite a Uruguayan court to order the seizure of a 300-ton shipment of Moroccan phosphate. But, although Uruguay backs the Polisarios separatist thesis, it turned down the request to seize the shipment. Panama rejected a similar demand in 2017. The Panama Maritime Court had then rejected the Polisarios request to seize the Ultra Innovation ship that had left the Moroccan port of Laayoune with a shipment of phosphate from the Phosboucraa deposits in the Sahara. The Polisario is not recognized by the International community as a representative of the commercial interests of the population of the Sahara, although it is considered as a party in the political process to find a solution to the Sahara conflict. The Polisario has actually incurred a severe setback in its legal maneuvers against Morocco after the Kingdoms phosphate company, OCP, restored in 2018 ownership of a 55,000 tons of phosphates rock unlawfully held in 2017 in South Africa following a legal challenge by the Polisario. The Polisarios vain attempt to use the justice system of its allies to hinder the flow of Saharan phosphates to international destinations is a vicious attempt to undermine Moroccos economic interests. Phosphates production and related industries, an area of excellence for Morocco, has been key in the Kingdoms African foreign policy. The state-owned phosphate company has been investing in African states and signed two landmark agreements with Nigeria and Ethiopia, Africas most populous countries, to build fertilizer production plants. Phosphate revenues have also contributed to the development of the southern provinces where Morocco spends seven times more than the revenues reaped from the region. Tert.am: Azerbaijanis complete engineering work, install serious equipment in Armenias Syunik Province village 14 Armenian POWs may face 14-20 years in prison or life imprisonment in Baku Armenian NGO president on results of snap parliamentary elections in Armenia Austrian Prime Minister condemns Turkey for human rights violations Armenia ruling party MP drops mandate after receiving it a week ago Armenia President receives acting high-tech industry minister Lockdown announced in Sydney US Congressman Schiff: We must not allow Azerbaijan to violate human rights with impunity Armenia conscript not yet found more than one month after going missing Leaders of 27 EU states instructed Borrell to prepare options for sanctions against Russia New program in Artsakh: Other countries citizens also can be appointed to police positions UK ambassador to OSCE congratulates Armenian people on snap elections NGO director: Armenia authorities have actually transferred countrys security to Azerbaijan Belarusian MFA intends to response to European sanctions NGO chief: Armenia authorities contribute to Azerbaijanis return to Artsakh 5 political forces at Karabakh parliament: Polarizations are observed which are accompanied by labeling Biden confirms plans to send billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to other countries President meets with Prosperous Armenia Party leader, they discuss internal political situation Woman, 59, dies at hospital 6 days after Armenia road accident Commander of Armenia air defense troops is sacked Head of Armenia army engineering troops is dismissed One new case of coronavirus reported in Artsakh EU leaders instruct European Commission to prepare new financial aid to Turkey for refugees Analyst: Azerbaijan has launched total psychological attack on people of Karabakh Pope Francis recalls his visit to Armenia 102 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Biden says US COVID-19 death toll to rise due to Delta strain World oil prices going up Frances Macron to Armenias Pashinyan: I will be glad to continue with you the work we jointly launched Armenia acting deputy PM appoints new adviser, sends him to US on business trip Lawyer on Prosecutor Generals Office explanation on Armenia bloc member doctors criminal case: An absolute lie Israel trying to influence Biden administration approach to nuclear deal with Iran About 150 people injured due to tornado in Czech Republic Newspaper: Heated post-election developments unrolling at Armenia I Have Honor bloc Newspaper: Vetting that failed in Armenia is being attempted again Armenian political party leader on double votes 12-story South Florida apartment building partially collapses, there are victims 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 Frances Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs organized a media tour for the Armenian journalists. Armenian News-NEWS.am is grateful to the Embassy of France in Armenia and French Foreign Affairs Ministry for a chance to participate in a rich, interesting and informative program, and expresses special thanks to the representative of the department of public relations and media Helene Stein for the program and warm attitude. Fake news and manipulation of information Fake news and manipulation of information was a theme of the media tour a timely topic for France, Armenia and any other country, even world community on the whole, given the current situation over fake news. Id just make a reservation, the question is quite delicate - although we often say that the information provided by the media must be objective, in my personal opinion, absolute objectivity cannot exist because every journalist is first and foremost a person with his own thinking. But we will talk about deliberately provided false information. The primary source of the fake was the Internet, and to this day it still accounts for most of the false information. Sometimes media is exposed to the dissemination of low-quality information for a variety of reasons - from political and economic interests to the usual negligence. Realizing the scale of the possible threat, France began to take comprehensive measures and kindly shared their experience with us. One of the common tools used by the officials in different countries is to reject his own works. I have never said this, the officials says and journalists start searching to find his quote. In some cases the media outlet has relation to an official and deletes the article, and it is too hard to prove anything. Tristan Mendes France, a professor of school of informatics and communications CELSA, said a collection of websites that keep copies of published articles and videos, as well as publications in social networks from open pages can help journalists to solve this problem. French experts have launched new technologies to explore the formation of public opinion and astroturfing, as well as fake news and the manipulation of information. Director of the Institute for Complex Systems (ISC), Head of the Research Department of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Director of the Center for Analysis and Social Mathematics David Chavalarias talked about efforts in this direction during a meeting with Armenias journalists visiting the French National Assembly during a media tour organized by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The expert brought the case of dissemination of information on an attack on a woman as an example of astroturfing. The incident was presented in light of religion, and a discussion on the incident reached the national level in a matter of days. However, a study showed that a certain group had organized the discussion to form public opinion. The politiscope technology, that is, colorful dot display of activities on Facebook, was created six months before the past presidential elections for a more detailed study of mechanisms. Several thousands of respondents from the political environment were selected as research material. They followed comments and examined tens of millions of Tweets, and the colorful graphic image showed the array of the selected respondents. The expert presented the transformation of Alan Giuseppe into Ali Giuseppe as the second example of manipulation of information. Over the past three years, diagrams have shown the transition from relatively similar and clearly expressed sympathies towards political parties to a bipolar and later a multipolar system. Interestingly, in the case of false information, this information is published by one group and spread by other users. It turned out that the French expert had also addressed Armenia in his study. The diagram shows how many users discussed the events that took place in Armenia last year, yet the graph shows only the fact that the topic has been discussed, without its tone. Attempt to find a legislative solution In an attempt to find a legislative solution, French lawmakers have undertaken the initiative to pass a law on the fight against the dissemination of fake news and against manipulation with information. Deputy of the La Republique en Marche Party Bruno Studer, who is a co-rapporteur for the law and head of the committee on culture and education, clarified that he had come up with the idea of the need to protect true information and hinder the spread of fake news when he remembered his job as a schoolchildren and how he used to provide coverage of different political processes unfolding in different parts of the world. The Deputy also stated that he was against the term fake news since this is a term that Americans use. This law isnt against journalists. On the contrary, it protects true information and hinders the spread of fake news, the lawmaker highlighted, recalling that there are two levels of freedom: freedom of speech and freedom of choice. The law implies a ban on ordered materials and advertisements during elections and a ban on the advertisement of a candidate or political party through social networks during elections. Studer also noted that the issue of fake news is a subtle issue since French legislation had envisaged punishment for overtly fake news back in the 1980s. According to him, what is also very important is the discipline of media representatives and the discipline of trust between society and the media. Judges have to determine whether information is false or not through a court decision that has to be adopted within 48 hours. In practice, unfortunately, fake news attracting the public often spark more interest than the serious task of a journalist. It turns out that this is a unique black market of the media, and this law is targeted exactly at this sector, Bruno Studer highlighted. In this context, he also reminded about the role of social networks. Social networks make money. In essence, when Facebook transfers information, Facebook chooses what you read, not you, the lawmaker said with certainty. It turns out that French journalists werent too excited about the initiative at first, but their attitudes gradually changed. The authors of and rapporteurs for the law are avoiding making definite judgments in favor of the law for the time being, but they have voiced hope that the law will be enforced in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament. Investigative journalism and who is to blame for fake news? Investigative journalists are one of the tools of public control in France. Cash Investigation show on the Premieres lignes channel is investigating major fraud schemes. The two-hour long movie-investigation "My President on a Business Trip" was prepared by Premieres lignes TV channel for the Cash Investigation program, and appeared on France 24 TV channel in September, 2015. The report uncovers details of two trips of French presidents to Azerbaijan. The filmmakers, Laurent Richard, Elise Lucet and others, have repeatedly called the regime of Ilham Aliyev a dictatorship and said that in the diplomatic correspondence of the US State Department Ilham Aliyev is described as the godfather who runs the country in the manner of Corleone. The film was a reason for a landmark trial. Mediapart website is also engaged in investigations. One of the founders of the website presented their work to the Armenian delegation. Francois Bonet has a tremendous experience in working for leading French newspapers and a very critical look at the situation in the domestic media. Independence of the French press is an idle talk. 98% of the media belongs to one or another magnate, Bonet says. Mediapart has been recently searched by the police due to publications in support of the yellow vests. By the way, searches in the media in France have not been carried out for a very long time, unlike in Armenia... Yellow vests When leaving Mediapart office, we saw yellow vests who came to support the website. The protesters lit flares and chanted mottos calling for the leadership to resign. The small action brought together a few participant and was peaceful. They expressed their solidarity and gratitude to Mediapart. We are very much concerned over searches in Mediapart office. We have not seen such things for around ten years, Reporters Without Borders representatives say. Speaking about the situation with freedom of the media in the world, Elodie Vialle, who is responsible for the office of journalism and technology, noted several concerns when presenting organizations new report. First of all, this is physical and financial pressure, the threat of an Internet shutdown in the third world countries. European companies are special equipment to the authoritarian regimes of these countries, said Vialle. Fortunately, Armenia was not noticed in such behavior. Reporters Without Borders is also worried about the new law on combating terrorism, which allows for broad monitoring of citizens, including journalists. It is possible that this will also lead to an even greater concentration of media in the hands of entrepreneurs. True, even media belonging to tycoons try to be on guard of their interests, and they have internal mechanisms that prevent business interference, however, this does not always work. Educating children Teaching children how to know what information is fake is now part of the curriculum for schools in France. This is what Director of the Media and Information Education Center (CLEMI) Serge Barbier told Armenias journalists visiting France within the framework of a media tour organized by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The CLEMI was established 35 years ago, meaning even back then, there was an awareness of the fact that the young generation needs to be taught how to differentiate between true and fake information published by the media. This problem became an important problem following the attack on Charlie Hebdo. Our goal is to shape schoolchildrens critical thinking. After all, critical thinking is the guarantee of a healthy stance of citizens, the Centers director noted. The CLEMI is training teachers of different subjects since there is no instruction for a specific subject. In addition, every year, French schools host media and information weeks during which mass media representatives meet and talk with schoolchildren. Since the program became mandatory just recently and educational reforms continue in this sector, not all schoolchildren had the opportunity to participate in the program. However, studies have shown that more than 60% of children and adolescents have acquired skills in reading news on the Internet with a critical approach. Once again about Yellow vests In conversations with colleagues, the impression was that they believe the coverage in the foreign media over yellow vests is not true and is a peculiar example of information manipulation. The main complaints were addressed to RT television, since the correspondents of the channel, as a rule, are the primary sources of information and are actively interviewing yellow vests and embellish the truth. Look, their materials create the feeling that all Paris is covered by demonstrations, but this is not the case. The demonstrations are local in nature, and most of the capital lives a normal life, said one of the colleagues. Indeed, the demonstrations are not widespread, as it was, for example, last spring in Armenia. However, it would be wrong to assert that the rest of Paris is not involved. On the eve of our departure from Paris, we had a chance to see that the demonstrations are not local in nature. We went to an important meeting, not having enough time for a long walk. At the bus stop, it turned out that the ground transportation works with interruptions, while the metro stations in the city center. It turned out there were clashes between the protesters and the police. For obvious reasons, the center of the French capital was cordoned off by the police. Experts continue to find out who yellow vests are, who is behind them, who and why manipulates information. However, it is obvious that whoever it is, real-life discontent with real-life problems is being used. My fellow traveler in the plane, Patricia from Nice, who clearly did not belong to yellow vests movement, expressed quite categorical in her statement: Macron is wrong!. 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. 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. Now read: Amazon scraps plans for New York headquarters Eskom wants to drastically cut the number of skilled white engineers and managers to ensure that it meets its affirmative action targets. This is according to a Rapport article which states that the company wants to reduce its qualified white workforce by 1,308 over the next year. The skilled white employees which are targeted include engineers, tradespeople, academically qualified staff, and middle management. These plans come as the company is under pressure from the Department of Labour to reduce the number of white employees to reflect the countrys demographics. Ongoing process to cut white staff In March 2015, Eskom shared its plans to decrease the number of skilled white employees by 3,389 to meet its affirmative action targets. According to reports at the time, Eskom had to cut the number of white engineers and managers by 1,081, and decrease the number of white tradespeople by 2,179. These white staff cuts were needed to comply with South Africas strict provisions of the Equity Act. According to the reports the Department of Labour was insistent that Eskom must make changes to ensure its employee demographics reflect South Africas national and regional demography. Skills shortage and Affirmative Action In November 2014 trade union Solidarity said that it warned Eskom for years about the grave consequences of its serious skills shortage. However, these warnings fell on deaf ears. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) agreed with Solidarity, saying that the manner in which Eskom applied affirmative action was hurting service delivery. Lets be honest, a lot of the people who work at Eskom do not have the skills required of them, a Numsa spokesperson said at the time. Gordhan trying to attract skills to Eskom The latest plans to cut experienced white staff at Eskom come at a time when the company is trying to attract the exact talent it is getting rid of. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan recently admitted that good people have been forced out of the company because of a toxic and uncertain environment. He explained that they are now trying to track down and recruit former Eskom staff who are working in countries like the Philippines and Indonesia. Gordhan said the loss of senior skills at Eskom is not a small matter, especially when it comes to engineering staff. It is therefore surprising that Eskom is now looking to cut even more of these staff members based purely on race. Solidarity head Dirk Hermann has urged Gordhan to suspend its affirmative action plan at Eskom for five years to ensure that critical skills are retained at the embattled company. The union has also launched a project to recruit experienced and skilled engineers and technicians to help alleviate the crisis at Eskom. According to Solidarity, the best investment that can be made in Eskom right now is an investment in top skills, even if it is only for the interim to ease Eskom out of its crisis. Now read: Eskom must get rid of thousands of skilled whites Everyone knows what a fossil is the remains, traces, or imprints of a previously living animal or plant preserved on or in the earths crust (Paleontological Resources Preservation Act Federal Public Law 111-011, 2009). Maybe you have had an Earth Science or Biology course, or visited one of Montanas large or small museums, or fallen in love with dinosaurs, or grown up on an Eastern Montana ranch where fossils were on the landscape. You know what a fossil is. The Montana Legislature knows, too it established the Montana State Fossil in 1985, the duck-billed dinosaur named Maiasaura peeblesorum, first suggested by a Middle School classroom in Livingston. But Montana state law does not know what a fossil is. The Montana Annotated Code is unclear, contradictory, and without a definition of fossils. And into that void stepped the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to decide that Montanas fossils are minerals. This decision does not recognize the science of paleontology, nor the long-standing separation of fossils from minerals, both federally and in Montana. He has publicly stated that he would like it if the Federal Government were permanently closed and all of the people who are dependent on necessary public services would no longer receive those services. If my wife and I did not have the Social Security payments that we worked for all of our working lives, we could end up homeless and living on the streets. Greg DeVries also voted against funding for the public education system that is currently allowing our granddaughter to receive the education and skills that she will need for her future success in life. If a foreign power took over Jefferson County and said Jefferson High School did not deserve adequate funding we would be rightfully concerned. It is a great school, with high academic achievement, dual high school/college credit classes, vocational programs, sports, music, drama, arts, producing young citizens who go on to contribute and make our world a better place. SUNDAY, FEB. 17 BIRD COUNT Montana State Parks will celebrate the Great Backyard Bird Count at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park at 10:30 a.m. Join park staff for an approximate 4-mile hike along the park road to see what birds call the park home this winter. Participants will meet at the main visitor center near the park entrance at 10:30. The walk will last two to three hours. Dress for variable winter conditions, wear solid walking footwear, and bring your binoculars. Participants may also bring a snack, water, and a camera. Whether an avid birder or a complete novice, your participation in this event will contribute to a global effort to create an annual snapshot of the distribution and abundance of birds. Auxiliary to host bingo night St. James Auxiliary will hold its annual bingo fundraiser at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in St. Ann's Parish Hall. There will be 12 games and three specials, with cash prizes for all games. In addition, 50/50 tickets will be sold and refreshments will be available. All proceeds go to the St. James Auxiliary Scholarship Fund. Tech professor featured speaker The featured speaker for the Thursday, Feb. 21, Montana Tech Public Lecture Series will be Alysia Cox. She will talk about Rocks, Hot Water, Microbes, and More: Diving to Seafloor Hot Springs. The lecture will be at 4 p.m. in CBB-102 on the Montana Tech campus. This item is available in full to subscribers. Attention subscribers We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription. If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here. Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing. Ms. Doe-Bravo, an Afghan woman in the same case, has worked for a U.S. government-funded development organization since 2013 and applied for an SIV in 2015. After she and her family began receiving frequent death threats, she moved to a new, secret address with her husband and three young children. She has changed her phone number numerous times. She feels hopeless and cannot trust anyone, even as she recovers from recent childbirth and cares for her newborn. A once robust program has stalled. Nearly 73,000 SIVs have settled in the U.S. in the past 12-plus years (only two in Montana), but delays and red tape are putting applicants in harms way. This is a humanitarian and a moral issue, not a partisan issue. As a staff attorney for IRAP put it, Keeping our invaluable partners in limbo for years erodes trust in us and destabilizes our relationships in the region. America needs to keep its promise to these brave allies. In his State of the Union message, President Trump said, "Legal immigrants enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways." While he was speaking in the context of the southern border, his words apply to SIVs as well. We call on the president and Congress to do what is right and remove obstacles to SIV applicants. Andrew Person served with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Iraq and Afghanistan alongside numerous courageous interpreters. He lives in Missoula. Clem Work is on the board of Soft Landing Missoula and is a Marine Corps veteran. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Missoula County Public Schools trustees have approved a timeline for hiring a new superintendent and set a starting salary for the position. The board set a salary of $180,000 in addition to benefits for the superintendent position they are working to fill in anticipation of the retirement of Superintendent Mark Thane at the end of the current school year. Trustees considered numerous factors while determining the salary such as annuities and benefits, past MCPS superintendent salaries, and comparisons of superintendent salaries from other AA districts across the state, as well as similar-sized districts throughout the country. The board also considered Thanes current $162,500 salary, which comes with a $1,750 monthly tax-sheltered annuity. Trustees agreed that it was important to include the annuity in salary calculations because Thane can opt to save the annuity or take it as salary. I want to make sure we are completely clear and transparent on the annuity, trustee Diane Lorenzen said in the Tuesday meeting. It's $21,000 a year and it can be applied either as an annuity or salary. To be fair and complete, our real base salary is $183,500. Staff Reviews Take a trip to the Marianas Trench, the deepest place in the world. It is so deep that you could put Mount Everest into it and the peak would still be over a mile under water. As unlikely as it seems, even in the crushing pressure of these lightless depths, life still exists. Witness a Galapagos sea lion driving a huge oceanic tuna onto the beach to capture it. Meet the rarely-seen and incredibly venomous Portuguese man o' war, with tentacles over thirty feet long. Watch a wily female octopus don a suit of armor made of seashells to escape from the voracious pajama shark determined to make a meal of her. Want to learn more? Check it out and embark on your own amazing voyage of discovery. (HealthDay)More than half of hospitalized patients who die or are terminally discharged have sepsis, according to a study published online Feb. 15 in JAMA Network Open. Chanu Rhee, M.D., M.P.H., from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a cohort study in which medical records were reviewed for 568 randomly selected adults who died in the hospital or were discharged to hospice and not readmitted. The researchers found that sepsis was present in 52.8 percent of the hospitalizations and was the immediate cause of death in 34.9 percent. Progressive cancer and heart failure were the next most common immediate causes of death (16.2 and 6.9 percent, respectively). In patients with sepsis, the most common underlying causes of death were solid cancer, chronic heart disease, hematologic cancer, dementia, and chronic lung disease (21.0, 15.3, 10.3, 9.7, and 9.0 percent, respectively). In 40.3 percent of the 300 sepsis-related deaths, hospice-qualifying conditions were present on admission. In 22.7 percent of the sepsis cases, suboptimal care was identified, most commonly delays in antibiotics. Only 3.7 percent of sepsis-associated deaths were considered definitely or moderately likely preventable; 8.3 percent were considered possibly preventable. "Our findings do not diminish the importance of trying to prevent as many sepsis-associated deaths as possible, but rather underscore that most fatalities occur in medically complex patients with severe comorbid conditions," the authors write. Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical, medical device, and medical technology industries. Explore further Immunocompromised patients with sepsis may face higher mortality at hospitals treating small numbers Copyright 2019 HealthDay. All rights reserved. After attending St. Procops Catholic School in Cleveland, Ohio she graduated Summa Cum Laude from St. Francis College in Joliet, Illinois with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts. After graduation she worked at NACA (now NASA) until her marriage. During college she met her future husband, Philip Anthony Auth of Bloomington, Illinois. They were married on January 8, 1949 at St. Procops Church in Cleveland, and remained married until Phil passed away in 2013. After settling in Bloomington, Marilyn spent most of her time raising their six children. In 1972, they moved their family to Twin Falls, Idaho, where she was employed first as office manager and realtor at Western Realty, and then as a her husbands partner in their business, Western Flight Training. Somewhat of a world traveler, she especially enjoyed visiting her European family and roots with her children, husband, sister Alberta, and brother-in-law Sam Ricciardi. Study Club and playing pinochle at St. Edwards with friends were her favorite social activities. Although she never got her pilots license, she loved to fly their airplanes. Marilyn was Phils best life-long flight student. She enjoyed using her artistic talents by throwing pottery until her stroke in 2009. Im working with a lot of blue-collar workers around the country and Im just hearing talk of politics that just sounds really new. Its a broader, deeper frustration with politics, whether its left, right or center. Just this sense that its become toxic, completely ineffective, and people who are not that political becoming really agitated about it. Allred was writing his book as time permitted, and always wondering whether the Common Interest model could succeed on the big stage. The divisions he saw in the country and the hunger for something better persuaded Allred to try again. He renewed his conversations with the NICD. In the end, the NICD asked him to become its next director and bring CommonSense American with him. This is much more solution-oriented this time around, Allred said. Thats how you manage a business. You say, we have concrete problems, where are the concrete solutions? ... We dont solve problems at the grand, philosophical level. For CommonSense American, that means starting with simple, solvable problems that have had some early work and early support in Congress. One such idea: Figure out how to cover uninsured care for people who end up with an expensive, out-of-network provider in an emergency, through no fault of their own. The wisdom of the Founders BOISE The sixth week of the legislative session wrapped up Friday. Here are a few of the highlights of the week: TWIN FALLS The Twin Falls School District invites the community to an informational meeting regarding the upcoming supplemental levy election. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in the O'Leary Middle School auditorium. Dr. Brady Dickinson, superintendent of schools, will discuss the renewal of the levy and its impact on schools, students and taxpayers. This meeting is open to the public. There will be time for questions at the end of the evening. BURLEY The emotional pain Milo Hatt has felt since the night 46 years ago when he drove his brothers car into the back of the Burley High School marching band has never dulled. The crash injured 17 of his classmates, including Debbie Flowers, who was seriously injured and died last month at 63. Flowers never fully recovered from that crash. She was in a coma for months after, and she was left with vision, mobility and memory problems for her whole life. After reading a Times-News story about Flowers death, Hatt and his family decided to finally tell their side of the tragic story. I punished myself and other people punished me, but I dont think anyone could have punished me more than I did myself, Hatt said. I had run into my own classmates. The late June day fell between his junior and senior years, and he was working for a farmer at the edge of the desert in Minidoka County moving sprinkler pipe. He got home from work that day, took a shower and went to pick up his girlfriend and bring her back to his familys home. As he drove to her home, he traveled down the same road that just minutes later would be strewn with marching band students and their instruments. It was dark, after 10 p.m., and the band was still practicing on the residential streets for an upcoming trip to the Calgary Stampede in Canada. I was speeding. I was probably going 40, Hatt said about the moments before the crash when he turned from Park Avenue and began traveling east on 24th Street. When I saw them, all I saw was the glare (of the headlights) off their instruments. I thought it was people on bikes. I rammed on the brakes and cut the car to the right. It skidded and came up against the curb. As police and ambulance crews arrived, Hatt was put into the back of a patrol car and told he was under arrest for drunken driving. I hadnt been drinking that day, Hatt said. And I wondered why they said that. Hatt sat in the back of the patrol car feeling dazed and watched what looked like a horror scene out of a movie. Over the years much of what happened that night and the following court process would become a blur for him. But the enormity of it shook him to his core that night. I thought I should be dead, he said. I thought Im going to hang myself. I couldnt eat for a week and I was sick for a month. He was initially charged with driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, a fact widely reported in the news. He was taken to the hospital that night and underwent tests for alcohol. When the tests came back weeks later, the results showed he was not drunk, Hatt said. That news, he said, was not reported. The familys insurance agent also disagreed with other facts in the police report after visiting the scene. One fact the agent disputed was that Hatts car had skidded hundreds of feet, which Hatt says was impossible. A civil lawsuit was also later filed, but after an initial court appearance, Hatt was shielded from the legalities by the familys attorney. The DWI charge was later dropped and the reckless driving charge reduced to inattentive driving, to which he pleaded guilty, Hatt said. But the stigma of being called a drunken driver that plowed into a high school band remained. It was the biggest story in the state that year, Hatt said. Adults from the community and across the state began calling the Hatt home, saying nasty things to the teen and his family. While out in public, family members encountered people who told distorted versions of what happened or said cruel things like Hatt should have been killed in the crash. Hatts brother Mickey Hatt, of Burley, said the family was tormented by the cruelty for decades. After a month, instead of feeling sorry and sick I started to become angry, Milo Hatt said. I felt let down by so many people. From that day on I didnt trust the media or the cops. He never kept any news clippings or court papers. I didnt want those negative things in my life, he said. The Times-News was unable to locate either police or court records, but found stories from two Magic Valley newspapers. The story was revisited in the Times-News after band member Debbie Flowers, the band member most seriously injured in the crash, passed away last month. Hatt said he talked to Flowers years after the accident, and she had assured him that she didnt hold any grudges towards him. Its too bad. It was 46 years ago, Hatts lifelong friend Rick Holmes, of Rupert, said. Everyone had dealt with it and now its resurfaced. Anyone could have hit them as they marched on that dark street, Holmes said. He should have set the record straight about the drunk driving a long time ago, Hatt said. Afterwards, I never set foot in church for 20 years, he said. I lost faith in God and people. I felt betrayed by everyone except my classmates. He never felt any animosity from his classmates, he said. But he said he stopped caring about what other people thought because he felt like he couldnt change their minds about him. I know that it bothers him a lot, said Hatts wife, Teresa Hatt. He tends to turn it inwards, she said, but it still bothers him. It was bad, and there were terrible consequences. I hated it as much as anyone else, Milo Hatt said. But I never had a DWI or reckless driving charge before or after. A couple of years after the crash, Hatt was a passenger in a crash that killed his friend, who was driving, and a driver in another car. Hatts injuries were extensive, and he was in a full body cast for eight months. Then, at age 28, he crashed his dirt bike and broke his back, which left him paralyzed from the chest down. Determined not to become a burden on friends or family, he continued to work. I learned that family is all important, Hatt said, along with friends like Holmes, who stayed around for decades. During the past 25 years of his life, Hatt began attending church again and his defensive demeanor slightly softened. I dont think I was a bad kid then, and I dont think Im a bad man now, Hatt said. I just dont want this to impact my family anymore. Love 4 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 39 Angry 4 The coordinators step in at each school and ask the counselors how they can best help them. A plan, which may be different at each school is then developed, she said. All of the tasks counselors have to do can leave them little time to do what they really wanted to do in the first place, which is counseling, Miller said. The coordinators work one-on-one with students and their parents for all things career-related and they help students choose classes wisely as the students use their $4,125 state advanced opportunities program money to pay for dual credit classes, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests, which can cut the costs of college for students, CSI coordinator Jo Wade said. Through the partnership with CSI, the coordinators are also able to access the CSI portal to make sure students are correctly enrolled in classes, Miller said. We want to make sure that money counts and is being used wisely, Danica Nielsen, Burley Junior High coordinator said. She was hired in August at the 600-student school. The average student changes their intended career plan three to five times, Wade said. So, regular guidance is important. I read with interest the Feb. 3 letter to the editor "Wisconsin doesn't need state Senate." Let me present another view. Wisconsin doesn't need state Senate -- Mike Malesevich One of the major points of contention during the founding of our nation was between the large states and the small states. Back in the 1970s, in my misspent youth, I served five two-year terms in the Massachusetts Senate. It was my first job after college, and I retired undefeated in 1982 at age 36. I used to liken the Massachusetts House -- and to be fair, often the Senate -- to a herd of cows that could be stampeded by a couple of cowboys waving hats and firing revolvers into the air. Some event would grab the medias and publics attention, a fast solution would be proposed, and it would be rammed through with little thought. It happened with the drinking age when four drunken 17-year-old girls were killed in a VW bug crash. How raising the age at the time from 18 to 19 would have saved 17-year-olds who were already drinking illegally was never explained. No matter, it flew through. The public demanded action, and the rush was on. The business is also paying its employees a wage of at least $12.44 per hour and rewarding employees with a percentage of revenues from the tap room each month. Tipping is not allowed but glasses of beer will be about a dollar more than most other tap rooms to fund the revenue sharing program. The $2 million facility, that can seat 120 people and is designed to brew about 1,000 barrels of beer in its first 12 months, includes gender neutral bathrooms while the bar is the shape of delta, the triangular mathematical sign for change. Piotrowski, 36, a Stevens Point native who goes by the nickname Pio, is a former Boy Scout, camp counselor and director and, in 2017, hiked all 2,189 miles of the Appalachian Trail. His commitment to nonprofits and social change are unwavering and are key ingredients to his operation as much as hops and barley are to the brewing process. Sunday is a bad day for traveling in southern Wisconsin, with snow falling and a winter weather advisory in effect until 3 a.m. Monday, 6 a.m. for counties along Lake Michigan, according to forecasters. And more accumulating snow is forecast for Tuesday night into Wednesday, as the areas recent brutal stretch of weather shows no signs of ending. The National Weather Service said snow totals for southern Wisconsin will range from 2 to 6 inches, with Madison expected to get 3 to 4 inches. The snow began in the Madison area between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. and should taper off across south central Wisconsin Sunday evening, with snow showers continuing in southeast and parts of east central Wisconsin through Sunday night and possibly Monday morning, boosted by some lake enhancement. In Madison on Sunday, the high should be near 27, with east winds at 10 to 15 miles per hour, and daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Overnight, the snow should be mainly before 3 a.m., with another inch or so possible, a low around 15 and north winds around 10 mph. Mondays forecast features a 20 percent chance for snow before 7 a.m., mostly cloudy skies, a high near 23 and north winds at 5 to 10 mph. We can verify that the domain is for sale over the phone, help you with the purchase process, and answer any questions. Draft Code on the Rights of the Child presented to the public in Georgia The draft Code on the Rights of the Child is a special law which introduces legal grounds, safeguards and guarantees the realization of rights and freedoms for children. It will guide all state agencies, local governments, other administrative bodies, the Common Courts, public and private organizations and individuals when working with, and making decisions about children.The Childs Code will ensure wellbeing and protection for children in Georgia. Through the Code, we strengthen families, but also consider State responsibilities to protect a child when their own family fails to provide adequate care. We are creating a system that supports children to be happy in all settings. We have been working on this reform for the last two years. The UNICEF Representative in Georgia, Mr. Ghassan Khalil, has made an important contribution to this process and I would like to thank him personally, said the Chairperson of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee Ms. Sophie Kiladze.The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child encouraged Georgia to adopt a law on the rights of the child, said Dr. Ghassan Khalil, UNICEF Representative in Georgia. In 2017 UNICEF conducted a comprehensive analysis of the national legislation concerning childrens rights, which recommended the amendment of more than 30 laws and the development of a separate law on the rights of the child. We commend the efforts of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee and appreciate the leadership of its Chairperson, Ms. Sophie Kiladze, in this process. We continue to support the Parliament in finalizing and raising awareness of the draft Code with the ultimate goal of its adoption. added the UNICEF Representative.The draft Code on the Rights of the Child:- Covers all rights and freedoms of the child and provides stronger mechanisms for their protection and realization. This includes a special focus on rights to family, protection from all forms of violence, access to inclusive education and healthcare, social protection, and access to justice.- Addresses equity gaps in the realization of all rights and freedoms of the child through an enhanced system for child rights support and protection which considers the needs and individual circumstances of the child and their family.- Introduces stronger mechanisms for state accountability for the realization of the rights and freedoms of the child by introducing a child rights impact assessment tool, interagency coordination, multidisciplinary cooperation, data collection and analysis for the development of evidence-based policy, and specialization of professionals working with and for children.After obtaining feedback from government agencies and civil society organizations, the draft Code on the Rights of the Child will be finalized and introduced to the Parliament for further consideration and adoption. It is expected the Code will be adopted by the Georgian Parliament during spring 2019. Public presentations, discussions and consultations with civil society organizations and young people will be organized to raise awareness of the draft Code and to ensure their participation in the finalization process. Social organizations have long been a part of the student experience at colleges and universities in the United States. Fraternities and sororities have been a major part of the experience for so long it is almost hard to imagine U.S. higher education without them. Many Americans use the term Greek life for fraternities and sororities because their names come from letters in the Greek language. Taking part in such groups does cost money. But there are many reasons students join them. At many U.S. colleges and universities, fraternities and sororities provide housing for students. They also help students make new friends and personal connections, both in and out of school. Some of these organizations were set up mainly for a given field of study, religion or other activity, such as musical performance. Most Greek Life groups expect members to get involved with their community through service. But there also is a culture of partying, drinking alcohol, and even bad behavior among some of the groups. One way Greek organizations try to demonstrate their value to students is by suggesting that joining improves members academic performance and earnings after college. So a team of U.S. researchers decided to look at how Greek life affected students in those areas. Looking to the effect on studies and earnings The researchers are with Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. They looked at the academic performance of over 34,100 students at a large, unnamed pubic university over a 10-year period. They also looked at how much money the former students of that school earned. The researchers released their findings through the publishing service SSRN last October. Almost every college and university with fraternities and sororities sets academic requirements for their members. To take part in Greek life, students must keep their grade point average, or GPA, at or above a given level. At the university in the study, the lowest level of GPA a Greek life member can have is 2.5 out of a possible 4.0. The school in the study does not let its students join fraternities and sororities until the second half of their first year. So the researchers were able to compare the students GPAs before and after they joined Greek life. They found that, on average, the GPAs of Greek life members fell by about 0.25 points after they joined. Academic performance was a problem especially during a period known as rush, the researchers noted. Before letting a student become a member, he or she is required to complete difficult tasks during rush, often involving alcohol. The researchers found that this was a period when students dropped out of classes or more often chose to take easier ones. William Even is a professor of economics at Miami University and the lead researcher in the study. He says the decrease in academic performance among Greek life members was greater than among students who started college at the same time, but chose not to join. Bottom line: our study shows that the simple statistics on GPA paint a false picture of how joining a [fraternity or sorority] affects grades, Even wrote in a message to VOA. Closer inspection reveals negative effects. Even said the study found no evidence that being a member of one of these groups improves a students earnings after college, as some Greek organizations claim. In defense of Greek life The North American Interfraternity Conference and the National Panhellenic Conference are the two biggest supporters of Greek Life in the country. Leaders from the two groups released a joint statement through the Chronicle of Higher Education after the findings were released. The leaders stated that they were pleased the researchers looked at the issues of academic performance among Greek life members. But they also noted the researchers looked only at one school. A host of studies show membership contributes to a students sense of community and belonging on campus, which provides a greater sense of attachment to a university, they wrote. The Greek organizations leaders pointed to two other studies. One study was done by the Association of Fraternity Advisors in 2006. It found that fraternity members are 20 percent more likely to successfully complete their studies than non-members. The other study, from 2014, looked at sorority members. It found that they are 11 percent more likely to stay with their study programs between the first and second years in college, a point when many students leave. In addition, there are things that being part of Greek life teaches students that they do not necessarily get in the classroom, says Roberto Angulo. He helped to create AfterCollege, an internet-based service that helps students find the best possible jobs for their skill sets after they complete their college studies. He was also a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity while attending Stanford University in the mid-1990s. Angulo notes that many companies do want workers who are highly knowledgeable of the areas in which they work. But he argues they also want job candidates with more general skills, like leadership and the ability to work well with others. Membership in Greek organizations demonstrates these qualities through the many community service projects in which they are involved. Employers who were once members of a Greek group themselves are more likely to employ fellow members, Angulo says. And, the social skills one gains from involvement are also helpful in fields like business and sales, he adds. Also, they can be very useful when an individual wants to progress in his or her career path. If you want to get a raise its not so much based on your GPA, said Angulo. Its how willing you are to ask for that extra package when you start or how actively you negotiate your offers. Still, fraternities and sororities have other issues affecting the way the public looks at them. These issues include reports of alcohol abuse, physical and verbal abuse of membership candidates, and sexual violence. Some groups have been named in police investigations and even court cases. Im Pete Musto. And Im Dorothy Gundy. Pete Musto reported this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. How common are college student social organizations in your country? What affect do you think they have on student performance? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Quiz - College Fraternities, Sororities May Harm Students Performance Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story fraternities n. organizations of male students at a U.S. college or university sororities n. organizations of female students at a U.S. college or university academic adj. of or relating to schools and education task(s) n. a piece of work that has been given to someone statistic(s) n. a number that represents a piece of information, such as information about how often something is done or how common something is negative adj. harmful or bad host n. a great amount or number contribute(s) adj. to help to cause something to happen raise n. an increase in the amount of your pay package n. a group of related things that go together Legislature in Utah overrides will of voters, scraps medical cannabis law Utahans who support health freedom which constitute the majority of Utah voters, it turns out watched a bill they passed last November that would have legalized medical cannabis throughout the Beehive State slip through their fingers into the dustbin of tyranny, thanks to the conniving interference of Utahs Mormon-dominated legislature. Just one day after Proposition 2, the Medical Marijuana Initiative that Utah voters passed by a 53 percent margin, was set to be implemented, the Utah House of Representatives and Senate held a special session to completely scrap the bill replacing it with a much more restrictive Utah Medical Cannabis Act that will make it virtually impossible for anyone living in Utah to realistically access legal medical cannabis. Even though overriding ballot initiatives that have been lawfully passed by voters is completely unconstitutional, the Church, with rubber-stamp approval from corrupt Utah Governor Gary Herbert, took it upon itself to do precisely that patting itself on the back in the process, as if the Mormon religion somehow holds the ultimate authority to make medical decisions for all Utahans. With the passage of the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, Utah now has the best-designed medical cannabis program in the country, Gov. Herbert arrogantly proclaimed, insinuating that the Proposition 2 replacement contrived by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in secret, and signed by himself into law, is somehow legitimate. Mormon politicians and church leaders met in secret to scheme a plan of attack to destroy Proposition 2 Its important to note that, before Proposition 2 was even voted on, Mormon leadership with deep pockets were already busy plotting a way to destroy it. An extensive list of LDS propaganda talking points published by MormonNewsroom.org back on May 11, 2018, reveals the extent to which the Church, with the help of its powerful legal lobby, schemed up a plan to annihilate Proposition 2 in the event that it passed. Readers are encouraged to take a closer look at this list, which clearly outlines LDS opposition to Utahans freely growing their own cannabis at home; purchasing the amounts of cannabis necessary to treat their individual ailments, as opposed to what the Church deems appropriate; and accessing medical cannabis through independent dispensaries as opposed to licensed pharmacies. The LDS lobby also opposes Utahans with chronic pain being allowed to access medical cannabis at all, as chronic pain is difficult to diagnose, according to the Church. In other words, the Mormon-controlled legislature, law enforcement, and other state mechanisms of control in Utah crave much more power and control over medical cannabis use than Proposition 2 afforded them. Help support lawsuit filed by former Salt Lake City mayor against State of Utah for illegally overriding passage of Proposition 2 In response to being legislatively assaulted in this manner by Utah politicians, a coalition of health freedom groups, led by former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, has filed a lawsuit in the 3rd District Court against the state legislature for scrapping this voter-passed initiative. Included in the lawsuit are the heads of both the Epilepsy Association of Utah (EAU) and Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE). For three years, we advocated on the Hill, Christine Stenquist, president of TRUCE, is quoted as saying by The Salt Lake Tribune, contending that the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, the LDS replacement for Proposition 2, violates Utahs constitutional provisions for ballot initiative. For two years, weve been in a campaign for the proposition. And when I saw it undermined so quickly on the first business day, I started to wonder: Is the initiative process in Utah just a suggestion box? Are our votes really meaning anything in this political process? How long do we just have to let politics happen to us? Let me get this straight. The conservative, anti-socialism Utah government will be in charge of the distribution of medicine? jabbed one commenter at The Salt Lake Tribune about the hypocrisy of Proposition 2 being overridden by the Utah legislature. Let all people know that dealing in the state of Utah or in any dealing with the LDS church, will be done by dishonest players from civic leaders, doctors, law enforcement, pharmacists, right up to the Governor, soberly revealed another about the current state of politics in Utah. If you are a young person planning on building a future here just know that your views better be in tune with the LDS church, if you are a business looking to relocate or expand in this state, you better beware. Please consider donating to the GoFundMe page thats been set up to help raise financial support for the aforementioned lawsuit, which aims to preserve the will of Utah voters in having true and honest access to medical cannabis without interference from the Church. For more cannabis-related news, be sure to check out MarijuanaToday.news. Sources for this article include: NYTimes.com SLTrib.com NaturalNews.com LDS.org MormonNewsroom.org SLTrib.com EpilepsyUT.org TRUCEUtah.org GoFundMe.com 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. You can power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today during our June Member drive. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe "My battery is low and it's getting dark." That's how I felt when I heard that NASA's Opportunity rover mission was coming to an end after 15 years. That Oppy, the rover, was officially dead, and that it had sent back one last alarming communication to Earth before finding its final resting place in Perseverance Valley on the surface of Mars. The rover's been around since I was a kid. I remember my dad showing me 3D photos of the rocky martian surface. I was enraptured by the promise of NASA's most ambitious rover mission yet and that we could potentially confirm that water, and maybe even life, once existed there. It's one of my favorite science memories. So, when I found out that NASA could finally call the mission, I was sad. And like any science reporter, I tweeted about it. Sad news. Mars rover #Opportunity is probably done. Sometime tonight, a team @NASAJPL will make their final attempt to contact #Oppy. If they can't, they'll likely call the mission. Here's what happened... 1/ pic.twitter.com/oLgATexUHN Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019 As of Feb. 16, the thread's received roughly 173,000 likes, 40,900 retweets and 17 million impressions (for whatever that stat's worth). I clearly wasn't alone in my grief. Yall Im tearing up over a robot help me. That my battery is low and its getting dark got me. You did great, sweetie. You did so great. #RIPOppy pic.twitter.com/34JxOoP54w Kara (@DaydreamCrashed) February 14, 2019 @elonmusk please go and rescue her... Li (@MssHanh) February 13, 2019 Celebrities tweeted about it. Im not crying. Nope. My eyeballs just worked out and they are sweating, thats all. https://t.co/3MdyPgeNht Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) February 13, 2019 Memes were made. (Shoutout to all of the people making Cowboy Bebop references!) YouTube videos were posted. And people even made T-shirts out of it. Hello? Is this thing on? Get It https://t.co/xF7aILDY4O Take 35% off with promo code: RUSHMORE pic.twitter.com/bweODVEXUt LookHUMAN (@look_human) February 15, 2019 AND IT ALL STARTED WITH THIS TWEET The last message they received was basically, My battery is low and its getting dark. They hoped that the windy season would clear dust off the solar panels (if that was the problem). Since then they've been pinging her again and again, every way they knew 3/ Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019 In the days following, the phrase separated from the context of the thread and made its way beyond Twitter. People started talking about it as if they were actually the exact last words that the rover said. The NY Daily News reported it as fact. JPL contacted me to let me know that they were being inundated with questions about the final message. And while it seemed like most people understood the context within the tweet, many didn't. SO, DID OPPY ACTUALLY SAY, "MY BATTERY IS LOW AND IT'S GETTING DARK"? As NPR's Scott Simon said, it's a "poetic translation." My tweet is an interpretation of what two scientists from the Mars Exploration Rover Mission told me. Deputy Project Scientist Abigail Fraeman spoke about what it was like when they realized the June dust storm was going to be particularly bad, and that Oppy's life was in danger. They told it to conserve energy. "It's hard, because you know it's coming... but there's nothing you can do to stop it," Fraeman said. "By Thursday, we knew that it was bad. And then by Friday, we knew it was really bad, but there was nothing we could do but watch. And then it was Sunday, we actually got a communication from the rover and we were shocked," she said. "It basically said we had no power left, and that was the last time we heard from it." John Callas, the project manager, offered another poignant detail about the final communication with Oppy: "It also told us the skies were incredibly dark, to the point where no sunlight gets through. It's night time during the day." "We were hopeful that the rover could ride it out. That the rover would hunker down, and then when the storm cleared, the rover would charge back up," he said. "That didn't happen. At least it didn't tell us that it happened. So, we don't know." RIP OPPY While not as catchy as seven words on a T-shirt, Oppy's final message back to headquarters is still impressive. This rover was built over fifteen years ago, traveled over 283 million miles, and lasted a lot longer than scientists anticipated. And even when the end was near, it held its ground and sent back one last valuable message before disappearing into the martian dust storm. Seeing such a clear example of excellence is inspiring. And the fact that robot was super cute, doesn't hurt either. MADISON If youve ever gone on a speed date, and even if you havent, you probably get the concept: A short meeting in which both parties exchange a bit of information about one another and break the ice, with the goal of moving to the next level or simply moving on with no regrets. Thats the concept behind the sixth Wisconsin Tech Summit, which will be held March 18 in legendary Lambeau Field in Green Bay. More on the speed date approach to follow, but your first question may be: Why Lambeau Field? Lambeau is symbolic of the emerging partnership between the Green Bay Packers, Microsoft, TitleTown Tech, the UW-Green Bay and other community leaders to build a stronger and more diverse economy in northeast Wisconsin. The Packers realize there is value in engaging in the states larger economy; Microsoft has research, education and broadband interests in Wisconsin (and a company president, Brad Smith, who hails from Appleton); TitleTown Tech is a new accelerator focused on high-growth startups; and the UW-Green Bay is led by Chancellor Gary Miller, who came from an entrepreneurial background and wants to give back to the campus and the city. Finally, Browns base is unions that have no patience for pie-in-the-sky environmental schemes that threaten their jobs, or radical schemes to overturn current health care arrangements when many of them have gold-plated plans they want to protect. All of this means that Brown has the sense to steer clear of proposals that will almost certainly diminish a Democrats chances of beating Trump. On paper, Brown looks like a strong general election candidate, and not just because hes avoiding ridiculous excesses. The natural play for Democrats in 2020 would be to nominate someone, like Brown, who has a good chance of winning back the Blue Wall states and therefore putting away the election (barring some unforeseen event that opens up Hillary states to Trump). Theres little doubt that Brown would have won against Trump in 2016. He has a much stronger connection to working-class voters than Hillary Clinton, and never would have dismissed them or the Upper Midwest. He came up in politics hanging out in union halls, and warns against coastal condescension toward the Midwest. The conservative Badger Institute has touted dental therapists as a free-market solution that will benefit the poor and taxpayers. The think tank faults Wisconsin for being last in the nation at providing dental care to children on Medicaid. Having a Democratic governor and conservative group pushing the same idea bodes well for bipartisan support in the Legislature. Many lawmakers from both parties also back higher reimbursement rates for dentists. Evers wants to commit $16 million in state money and additional federal dollars to raise the rates government pays dentists to care for poor people. More than 500,000 children are eligible for dental care through Medicaid now, but many dont receive it. Evers led the state Department of Public Instruction before becoming governor. So he knows bad teeth are a big reason children miss school and fall behind in learning. State Journal medical reporter David Wahlberg has documented the dentist shortage in rural Wisconsin. When small problems go untreated, they become big problems, leading to more expensive care in emergency rooms. Even Japan a country not exactly known for progressive gender roles is eating our lunch. There, thanks to a national effort to take greater advantage of womens economic potential (womenomics), 77.5 percent of prime-age women are in the labor force as of 2017, vs. 75 percent here. Why does this matter? An economy is only as strong as its workers, and the share of our population in the workforce is shrinking. In fact, one of the main reasons U.S. economic growth is almost universally expected to slow dramatically in the coming years is precisely this demographic issue. As the population ages, a growing share of retirees must depend on a shrinking share of working people to produce the goods and services that retirees consume. There will also be a smaller share of working-age people available to fund the tax base needed for retirees public benefits, such as Medicare. One solution, of course, is more immigration of working-age people. But regardless of whether we do that, we should also make it easier and more attractive for members of the existing working-age population to, you know, work. Decriminalization removes penalties The decriminalization proposal would remove all state penalties for possessing, manufacturing or distributing marijuana in the amount of 25 grams or less. Though some municipalities, including Madison, already have decriminalized marijuana, state law classifies it as a Schedule I controlled substance. That means a first-offense conviction for possession may carry a fine of as much as $1,000, imprisonment for as much as six months or both. Those convicted of second or subsequent violations are guilty of a felony and may be fined as much as $10,000, imprisoned for as much as three years and six months, or both. Evers proposal includes a handful of scenarios in which medical use of marijuana could not be a legal defense. They include driving a vehicle or operating heavy machinery under the influence of marijuana, or consuming it on a bus, place of employment, school, correctional facility or other public spaces. It calls for creating a process by which people convicted of possessing, manufacturing or distributing less than 25 grams of marijuana who completed their sentence could have their records expunged. The Justice department says that will investigate the case of a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent caught on video threatening a Rappler reporter for recording the arrest of her boss, Maria Ressa on Feb. 13. We recommend that it does so quickly, and act swiftly to correct any the overzealousness and arrogance that the NBI agent in question clearly showed in a video that has been widely circulated on Twitter, not only here, but abroad. The video feed records the conversation that Rappler reporter Aika Rey had with an unidentified NBI agent who tried to stop her from recording Ressas arrest, which was happening inside the Rappler office. The exchange is not captured on video, because Rey apparently pointed her camera phone away when the agent approached her, but it is clearly captured on the audio track. Here is part of that conversation, after Rey asked him why she should stop recording the arrest. NBI agent: Oh really? You really do not want to comply with our simple request? Come on, miss. Rey: Are you getting my phone? You cant get my phone. NBI agent: Come on, be cooperative. Your boss is already talking to us. No need for that. Im sure you do understand what Im telling you, right? Oh great. Rey: I mean, Im not the only one doing it. NBI agent: Yeah, but Im talking to you right now. Ill attend to them later, one by one. Rey: Can you explain to me first... NBI agent: Because Im saying so. Rey: And what will happen...? NBI agent: Its up to you. Its our request. Please. OK, if youre going to do the same banana... Rey: I mean, maybe you can explain to me first...NBI agent: No. Rey: Why not? The NBI agent then takes his camera phone and records Rey, to make his point. Rey: Now youre doing the same thing. NBI agent: You asked for it. Rey: Ummm, I dont mind. (Laughs) Unfortunately, the two-minute video excerpt that Rey shared on her Twitter account does not include this part of the conversation: NBI agent: Can you stop doing what youre doing now? Is it okay? Oh great and tell the same thing to your colleague. Because definitely if we see our faces on the net, youll be sorry. Youve been warned. Well go after you. Justice Undersecretary Mark Perete said the department will look into the incident and also talk to the NBI agents involved because they want a clear picture of what transpired to see if any violation took place. This is all and good, but the video alone clearly records a law enforcer trying to stop a journalist from doing her job, inside her own place of employment. When asked for a reason, he offered no better explanation other than because Im saying so. That does not cut it. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra himself has said that it is not illegal for journalists to record an ongoing arrest as long as they do not not interfere with the operation. It would be a stretch, indeed, to suggest that one person holding up a camera phone could seriously impede the arrest. In what is certainly a good sound byte, he has also said: The DOJ will not file charges for the purpose of harassing journalists. Not under my watch. It is time that Secretary Guevarra put his money where his mouth is and took to task the overzealous NBI agent who was clearly overstepping his bounds by suppressing coverage of a legitimate news event. Church leaders and congregants from around the Coulee Region gathered at English Lutheran Church in La Crosse last week to mark the International Day of Prayer and Awareness for Human Trafficking. The service featured music and singing led by Barbara Martin-Stanley from the Onalaska Methodist Church and readings and reflections from representatives of local Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Bahai fellowships. The Rev. Jennifer Clemmerson of New Beginnings in La Crosse recounted her personal experience with abduction and emphasized that trafficking is not just a global problem. She said that in 2017 in La Crosse, 33 people reported being victims of trafficking. Last year, 21 people self-identified as trafficked. Marlene Weisenbeck of the La Crosse Task Force to End Modern Slavery noted that local figures may be higher since trafficking is often masked by drug abuse or domestic violence. Nationwide, the National Human Traffic Hotline tallied 8,759 cases in 2017, representing more than 10,000 individual victims. Rees says, ironically, her other recent work in collaboration with the county and other colleagues has been with men and how they protect themselves and their partners regarding sexual health and using barrier methods. She has also been examining how women are engaged in public health advocacy locally and nationally, along with preparing women to effectively advocate policy work. Rees is quick to point out that her work is done with a lot of collaboration and support from other health advocates. I am grateful to my students over the past decade as I learn so much from them, their stories and their energy, she says. Along with teaching classes, Rees has co-supervised Eta Sigma Gamma, the local Beta Phi Chapter of the National Health Education Professional Organization at UW-L, since 2003. Nominations for the champions were received from throughout the state and reviewed by WWHF representatives, along with community members and local health representatives. Award recipients are recognized for demonstrating dedication to womens health through exemplary achievement in a specific area of expertise. For more information on the 2019 Champions in Womens Health, visit www.wwhf.org/champions. About the series Campus Connection appears Sundays in the La Crosse Tribune to spotlight student and faculty achievements at the UW-L, Viterbo and Western Technical College. The campuses provide these features on a rotating basis. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Building Relationships and Community in Westby will host guest speaker Jeff Thompson at the Westby Area Performing Arts Center, 206 West Ave. S., Westby, Tuesday, Feb. 26, from 6-7 p.m. Tom Thibodeau, distinguished professor from Viterbo University, will lead the conversation on topics that impact the community. Thibodeau will continue to teach the basics of leadership skills which can be applied in organizations, families and communities, and ways in which to nurture and sustain it. Enhancing the health and well-being of the community by developing collaborative ways in which to serve area businesses, churches, students, elderly, and parents with disabled children, farmers, etc. by: - An OFW sought help through social media as she was reportedly sold to various employers - She was often starved and punished at the slightest infraction - Everytime, she would be sold to another employer, her agent would allegedly take the opportunity to abuse her PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed! An OFW took to social media to ask for help and be rescued from the cruelty she has been suffering in Saudi. KAMI learned that the OFW was sold to different employers and has been punished indiscriminately by her employers. Worse, whenever she would be in the process of being sold to another employer, her own agent would also allegedly take it as an opportunity to abuse her. As narrated in GMA, she is also being locked in a room and starved. She even showed the bruises she has sustained. This was narrated by the OFW and her situation has already reached family members. "Sa tuwing isinusuko siya ng employer niya, doon siya ginagahasa ng lalakeng nagbebenta sa kanya." PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! Ang masaklap, hindi alam ng OFW kung nasaan siya kaya mahirap siyang tuntunin. Ang agency niya sa Pinas ay nagsara na rin. Tanging pag-asa na lang ng pamilya niya ay matulungan siya ng OWWA. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Tricky questions: testing boys and girls of the Philippines for knowing some historical information. Who is smarter: boys or girls? Find out in the video! Source: Kami.com.ph The thing hell probably be most remembered for is organizing jam sessions across the city, Julie said. If you wanted to make music, you were invited no matter how much or how little experience you had with your chosen instrument. A lot of people told me dad allowed them to explore their musical talent, Alicia said. Dad was always my role model. Wed always want to be like him. He was, in a lot of ways, the consummate professional musician, having few other jobs besides teaching and playing music. When he wasnt drumming, Edwards often ended up helping with lights and audio at concerts. Edwards taught drum lessons at several of Racines now-closed music stores, including Horst Music Store (at the corner of Sixth Street and Park Avenue), Garys Music World (312 Sixth Street) and most recently at Copycat Music (3205 Washington Ave.). When he gave you advice it sunk in with you. When Roy gave you advice or lent a helping hand, you felt motivated, said bar-owner J.J. McAuliffe. Even if it was something difficult, he made you feel like you could do it, you just need to work on it He made you feel like nothing is impossible. He was like a godfather to a lot of people for his advice and direction, McAuliffe continued. We sold because the market is a lot more robust because of Foxconn, Matkom said. The Belle Harbor apartments are all going to market rate, said Matkom and Kyle Culotta, senior asset manager for Gorman. No tenants can be displaced, Matkom continued. But as those tenants leave, their units will become market-rate apartments. The nonprofit Harmony Housing will keep Mitchell Wagon as is with the same number of both market rate and rent-restricted apartments as it had previously, Culotta said. Gormans other Racine project was the $19.7 million Harbor at State and Main, 141 Main St., and which opened in 2007. The first floor is owned by Johnson Redevelopment Corp., the real estate arm of SC Johnson; the overall property is owned by State at Main LLC; and the condominiums are individually owned. Gorman had expressed interest in developing the Machinery Row site, along the Root River. However, that never moved forward after a crucial part of the projects funding $9 million in historic tax credits expired. Note: This story has been updated from the original version to correct some misinformation that was provided to The Journal Times. We sold because the market is a lot more robust because of Foxconn. <&textAlign: right>Ted Matkow, president of Gormans Wisconsin market. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 2 Angry 3 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. "The Quezon City government treated the Morato ancestral house differently from the Quezon house." "The Quezon City government treated the Morato ancestral house differently from the Quezon house." In 2011, the Quezon City government made a request to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to declare the late President Manuel Luis Quezons sprawling house in Gilmore St. a heritage site. This follows reports that Quezons heirs were planning on selling the 3,678-square-meter property where he lived while recovering from tuberculosis before World War II. Quezon, president during the Commonwealth era, also briefly served as mayor of Quezon City which was established in 1939 and which was named after him. Tomas Morato took over the post. According to a news report published in August 14, 2011, it was actually former Speaker Feliciano Sonny Belmonte who initiated the move to have the Quezon ancestral house declared a heritage site, even commissioning an inspection of the property as early as 2008 after reports of the planned sale first surfaced. I really think the city government should move not only to declare the Quezon property a heritage site but also to acquire and preserve it, Belmonte was quoted as saying then. Quezon City planning and development officer Tomasito Cruz then wrote NHCP chairperson Maria Serena Diokno manifesting the city governments intention of registering the property as an important cultural treasure. In his letter dated August 8, Cruz wrote: It was brought to the attention of the city government that the Quezon-Avancena property located along Gilmore Avenue is being offered for sale. May we therefore request your good agency [to tell us] the possible options on how to acquire subject property and declare it a heritage site in accordance with the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, Cruz further stated in his letter. The property on which the house once stood was eventually sold, but not before the house was transferred to it present site at the Quezon Memorial Circle. But what this incident clearly tells us is that Belmonte is such an avid disciple of history and admirer of everything that has something to do with it. It is as if with Belmonte, heritage sites will always be preserved and protected. A few years later, another potential heritage site, the Morato ancestral house was offered for sale. While the house, built in the 1950s, could easily qualify for protection under Republic Act 10066 which provides protection for heritage structures 50 years and older, prohibiting their demolition without going to court, the Quezon City Government could have easily showed the same compassion it had exhibited in the case of the Quezon ancestral house. Anyway, it was the tandem of Mayor Herbert Bautista and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte who headed the city government in 2011 and 2014. The sale of the ancestral house of the Moratos, tainted with controversies and alleged fraud, is another story. It is the subject of a court case among the siblings as it was alleged that their youngest brother forged documents to lay claim to the property along with his supposed co-buyers of the property. The question that lingers is why the Quezon City government treated the Morato ancestral house differently from the Quezon house. Isnt the sauce for the goose also good for the gander?The answer might lie in the identities of the co-buyers of Jose Morato, the youngest of the Morato siblings. According the complaint filed by the Moratos before the Office of the Ombudsman, Jose managed to fake documents to effect the sale of the property to his own company, JLM Trading Corporation and his co-buyers - Jaime Miguel, Juan Kevin and Feliciano Isaac children of former Speaker Sonny Belmonte and brothers of Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte. Jose and the Belmonte brothers, the complainants stated in their document, entered into an agreement with Sta. Lucia Land, Inc. for the construction of a 21-story condominium over the properties in question. The work commenced in April 2018. The complainants accused the respondents, mainly Jose Morato and the Belmonte brothers, of soliciting the active participation and intervention of their sister, Vice Mayor Joy, in the approval and issuance of the Certificate of Exception denominated as Resolution No. 7176 Series of 2017 as evidenced by the Minutes df the 35th Regular Session held on July 17, 2017. This was approved and signed by Vice Mayor Joy herself. The complainants further aver that the respondents conspired with one another in securing the special permit for the construction of the condominium over the contested properties. So why the different treatment on the case of the Moratos? Maybe Vice Mayor Joy can answer that herself. * * * A friend called me up yesterday and shared with me their unfortunate experience at the Trinoma Mall last Saturday. According to my friend, his granddaughter accidentally slipped inside the mall suffering a busted lip and broken nose. To their surprise, no immediate help was in sight. They had to go to the concierge to seek assistance who then called up a security guard. After around five minutes, a security guard arrived and it was only then he started radioing for medical assistance. After another five minutes, according to my friend, a medic arrived carrying with him an empty ice bag. Yup, empty with no ice or even cold water. This medic then called for back-up and after ten minutes another medic arrived, this time carrying with her some tissue. It was at that point my friend decided to leave and proceed to the nearest hospital. Is this how a premier mall operates? Incapacitated to provide medical assistance or even first aid to those who who might suffer accidents while inside their mall? Maybe what matters most for them is the profit and not even an iota of consideration for the kind of services they can provide for their clientele. Walker clearly saw what was coming with Trump much earlier than most people; he also saw the solution. Trump never commanded a majority of Republican primary voters. He commanded a plurality only because too many candidates were splitting the major Republican constituencies. If the field had winnowed earlier, Trump would have lost. Instead, through arrogance, through narcissism and through disbelief, the party's leaders dallied until Trump's momentum was unstoppable, and a hapless outsider at the head of a minority faction had somehow taken over their party. After the cease-fire, most of those Republican leaders would end up cravenly capitulating to Trump, to the lies, the incompetence, the vulgarity. Indeed, last month Walker said he planned to chair Trump's 2020 re-election campaign in Wisconsin. Terrified of his voters but not quite able to bring themselves to endorse his behavior, Republicans have mostly settled on pretending it's not happening. Thus, the GOP is both a victim of Trump's gaslighting and its guiltiest accomplice. Now Democrats may confront a similar threat. Privately, they may be horrified by Ocasio-Cortez's slapdash approach to policy; angry about her intraparty aggression; disgusted by blatant and juvenile falsehoods. Publicly, however, they wish to court her voters, so the kid gloves mostly stay on. That may be the practical response, if not the admirable one. But before they chart that course, Democrats should ask their Republican counterparts -- privately, behind closed doors -- whether they wish they'd spoken up a little sooner, a little louder and in unison, to put down the insurgency before their party, and their dignity, came entirely unglued. Megan McArdle writes for the Washington Post. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. That's 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 Northam's 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 Texan's leadership in the Senate of Southern Democratic opposition to civil rights in the 1950s. 1869: The proposed University of Nebraska was approved by the Legislature, and Gov. David Butler signed the chartering bill. 1879: The merchants of Lincoln demanded that the fairgrounds be moved to the city and put in their bid for the 1879 State Fair. 1889: An artesian vein of saltwater was found at Unadilla. Three cattle thieves were captured by ranchers in Keya Paha County after 100 head of cattle were stolen. A preliminary survey was made by Eastern capitalists who proposed to construct a canal from the Dismal River through Broken Bow and into Wood River. 1899: Merchants and jobbers of Lincoln and smaller cities throughout the state passed resolutions against continuance of the Trans-Mississippi exposition at Omaha in 1899. 1909: Work began on the International Harvester Company's site in Lincoln where new distribution buildings were to be constructed. 1919: Nebraska farmers followed the progress of a bill introduced into Congress to appropriate $1 billion to maintain a guaranteed price of wheat. The new year is ramping up to be a historic one for the private space industry as it endeavors along with its partners at NASA to return humans to space from the United States. Floridas Space Coast will be ground zero for those launches and other notable flights in 2019. Though the overall number of liftoffs will likely be lower than in 2018, when the Cape played host to 20 launches, the high-profile nature of 2019s launch manifest is likely to bring crowds back to the region. Private space, led by SpaceX and Boeing, will play prominent roles as the purveyors of the first crewed U.S. space flights to low-Earth orbit since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. In between, satellite, lunar lander and International Space Station resupply missions from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance will round out the year. Mark your calendars, here are the launches coming to the Space Coast in 2019: SpaceX If current schedules hold, SpaceX would be the first to return astronauts to low-Earth orbit from American soil in eight years, beginning the process of easing the nations dependency on Russia to shuttle American astronauts to the International Space Station. Please log in to keep reading. Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever. Bryan Seck, Prosper Lincolns developer for Employment Skills, presented Lincoln Literacy with the Prosper Lincoln Step Up award. Lincoln Literacy plays a critical role in helping people learn English so they can succeed in the workplace. They work with TMCO, a Lincoln manufacturing company, to provide on-the-job English-language training free to their many refugee employees. With financial assistance from Community Health Endowment, Lincoln Literacy also helps refugees with medical backgrounds learn the language so they can become certified nurses aids. Language can be a difficult barrier for some people when attempting to access employment, said Seck. Lincoln Literacy sees this need in our community and fills it, allowing more people to find stable employment and help employers fill in-demand jobs. Learn more at ProsperLincoln.org. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CHARLESTON -- A man received the maximum probation term possible when he admitted having marijuana he planned to sell. Devon R. Foster, 25, for whom records list addresses of 1519 12th St., Charleston, and in Chicago, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of cannabis with intent to deliver. With the agreement reached in his case, Foster was sentenced to 2 1/2 years of probation for the conviction that also could have resulted in a prison term of two to 10 years. He was eligible for an extended term had he received prison time because of a prior Cook County robbery conviction. Probation terms included an evaluation for substance abuse treatment and a requirement that Foster follow its recommendations. He was also ordered to pay about $1,600 in fines and court fees. Jail time was stayed, so Foster won't have to serve it if he follows his sentence's other requirements. Coles County Circuit Judge James Glenn sentenced Foster by accepting the terms of a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Joy Wolf and Public Defender Anthony Ortega recommended. In other recent drug cases: Steven A. Bridges, 58, whose address on record is 113 S. Walnut St., Oakland, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years of probation for having marijuana and methamphetamine and driving with a revoked license. Case records indicate that the drugs and a gun were found in an unoccupied vehicle in a rural location on Feb. 19 of last year and Bridges was later identified as the owner. Bridges was also charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, which was based on his criminal record and would have required prison time. That charge was dismissed. He pleaded guilty in December to charges of possession of cannabis, methamphetamine possession and driving while license revoked. Probation terms included a treatment evaluation and stayed jail time. Circuit Judge Brien O'Brien sentenced Bridges based on recommendations from Assistant State's Attorney Tom Bucher and Ortega. Antonio L. Ghazaini, 26, for whom records list an address of 1075 Seventh St., Charleston, pleaded guilty to a methamphetamine possession charge alleging he had the drug on Dec. 19. A charge accusing Ghazaini of also having a prescription medication was dismissed and he was sentenced to two years of probation. Terms included a treatment evaluation, various fines and fees, and stayed jail time. Glenn accepted a plea agreement that Wolf and Ortega recommended. Amanda M. Mitchell, 37, who listed an address of homeless in Mattoon, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a controlled substance accusing her of having a prescription painkiller on Nov. 2. A charge alleging Mitchell also had methamphetamine was dismissed and she received two years of second chance probation, which can result in no record of a conviction if completed successfully. Glenn accepted a plea agreement that prosecutor Ralph Fowler and Assistant Public Defender Stephanie Corum recommended. Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 1 "Henry Georges timeless insights are just as fresh and relevant today as they were in the late 1800s." "Henry Georges timeless insights are just as fresh and relevant today as they were in the late 1800s." The excerpts below are from Henry Georgeone of the greatest trade economists of all timeand his 1886 book, Protection or Free Trade. Nobel economist Milton Friedman called it the most rhetorically brilliant book ever written on trade, and it was also the first book to be read entirely into the US Congressional Record. Protection or Free Trade was probably the best book on trade written by anyone. It can be compared to Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations. Economist Tyler Cowen wrote in 2009 that the book remains perhaps the best-argued tract on free trade to this day. Some of Georges quotes below were featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2016, but Ive expanded some of them, and Ive also included additional ones from the full text of Protection or Free Trade. This should be required reading for political leaders and all other protectionists who think trade is win-lose and who advocate tariffs and protectionism as a way to make the country better off economically. 1. Maximize Imports, Not Exports: If foreigners will bring us goods cheaper than we can make them ourselves, we shall be the gainers. The more we get in imports as compared with what we have to give in exports, the better the trade for us. And since foreigners are not liberal enough to give us their productions, but will only let us have them in return for own productions, how can they ruin our industry? The only way they could ruin our industry would be by bringing us for nothing all we want, so as to save us the necessity for work. If this were possible, ought it seem very dreadful? 2. Voluntary Trade is Mutually Beneficial: Trade is not invasion. It does not involve aggression on one side and resistance on the other, but mutual consent and gratification. There cannot be a trade unless the parties to it agree. 3. Exposing Protectionist Fallacies: In a profitable international trade, the value of imports will always exceed the value of the exports that pay for them, just as in a profitable trading voyage, the return cargo must exceed in value the cargo carried out. This is possible to all the nations that are parties to commerce, for in a normal trade, commodities are carried from places where they are relatively cheap to places where they are relatively dear, and their value is thus increased by the transportation, so that a cargo arrived at its destination has a higher value than on leaving the port of its exportation. But on the theory that a trade is profitable only when exports exceed imports, the only way for all countries to trade profitably with one another would be to carry commodities from places where they are relatively dear to places where they are relatively cheap. An international trade made up of such transactions as the exportation of manufactured ice from the West Indies to New England, and the exportation of hot-house fruits from New England to the West Indies, would enable all countries to export much larger values than they imported. On the same theory the more ships sunk at sea, the better for the commercial world. To have all the ships that left each country sunk before they could reach any other country would, upon protectionist principles, be the quickest means of enriching the whole world, since all countries could then enjoy the maximum of exports with the minimum of imports.4. Exposing Tariff Fallacies: To every trade there must be two parties who mutually desire to trade, and whose actions are reciprocal. No one can buy unless he can find someone willing to sell; and no one can sell unless there is some other one willing to buy. If Americans did not want to buy foreign goods, foreign goods could not be sold here even if there were no tariff. The efficient cause of the trade which our tariff aims to prevent is the desire of Americans to buy foreign goods, not the desire of foreign producers to sell them. Thus protection really prevents what the protected themselves want to do. It is not from foreigners that protection preserves and defends us; it is from ourselves. 5. On the Fallacy of Protecting Infant Industries: What are really infant industries have no more chance in the struggle for governmental encouragement than infant pigs with full-grown swine about a meal-tub. Not merely is the encouragement likely to go to industries that do not need it, but is likely to go to industries that can be maintained only in this way, and thus to cause absolute loss to the community by diverting labor and capital from remunerative industries. 6. Protectionism Equals Force: Trade does not require force. Free trade consists simply in letting people buy and sell as they want to buy and sell. It is protection that requires force, for it consists in preventing people from doing what they want to do. Protective tariffs are as much applications of force as are blockading squadrons, and their object is the sameto prevent trade. The difference between the two is that blockading squadrons are a means whereby nations seek to prevent their enemies from trading; protective tariffs are a means whereby nations attempt to prevent their own people from trading. What protection teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war. 7. On the Fallacy of Trade Retaliation: And in the same way, for any nation to restrict the freedom of its own citizens to trade, because other nations so restrict the freedom of their citizens, is a policy of the biting off ones nose to spite ones face order. Other nations may injure us by the imposition of taxes which tend to impoverish their own citizens, for as denizens of the world, it is to our real interest that all other denizens of the world should be prosperous. But no other nation can thus injure us so much as we shall injure ourselves if we impose similar taxes upon our own citizens by way of retaliation. Henry Georges timeless insights about trade, protectionism, and trade retaliation are just as fresh and relevant today as they were in the late 1800s, and maybe even more so than ever before given the recent popularity of protectionism. [email protected] Owner of Karol Bagh Hotel, where fire killed 17, arrested 17 Feb 2019: Owner of Karol Bagh Hotel, where fire killed 17, arrested Rakesh Goel, the owner of Hotel Arpit Palace, where a fire killed 17, was arrested on Sunday by the crime branch of Delhi police. The establishment, situated in Karol Bagh, caught a massive fire in the early hours of Tuesday devastating families. While the hotel's general manager Rajendra Kumar and assistant manager Vikas Kumar were arrested soon, Goel was at large. Arrest: Hiding in Qatar, here's how Goel was arrested Delhi police were able to nab Goel with the help of immigration officials. Goel was apparently 'hiding' in Qatar and police learned he would be arriving in Delhi soon. Goel took the Indigo 6E 1702 flight from Qatar and a lookout notice was issued. After he touched down, Immigration officials handed him over to police. Goel will be produced in court today, revealed DCP Rajesh Deo. History: In 2008, CBI filed a chargesheet against Goel Officials probing the incident revealed Goel was booked by CBI in a forgery case, way back in 2008. The premier investigative agency had also filed a charge sheet against him, which is why the license for the hotel wasn't issued to him or his wife. He got the hotel registered on his brother Shardendu's name. And, Shardendu is yet to be arrested. Fire: Backstory: Short circuit led to massive fire The blaze reportedly started in Room No. 109. The guests switched on the AC due to lack of ventilation. "As it is winter, the AC was probably not serviced and there was a short-circuit, which led to the fire," a forensic expert suggested. Out of the 17 who passed away, three belonged to a Kerala family who came to Delhi for a wedding. Violations: Probe revealed the hotel flouted various rules The tragedy could have been averted had the hotel been following rules. Though it had obtained a license from the fire department, there were many violations. A committee, appointed by Supreme Court, found the hotel was devoid of adequate parking, its height was more than 15 meters, basement and the top floor was used for commercial purposes, and parties were hosted at the terrace. Story continues Details: Notably, the fire escape was extremely narrow and locked The investigation also found that the fire escape was too narrow and remained locked every night. The hotel staff was also not taught how to handle fire fighting equipment. Further, the location of the hotel, in a congested area of Karol Bagh, delayed the fire fighting operation. Though the agency received a call at 4:30 AM, the fire came under control only at 7 AM. Politics: After fire, BJP and AAP locked horns The tragedy led to a blame game between Aam Aadmi Party, which governs Delhi, and Bharatiya Janata Party, which runs MDC. AAP canceled its fourth-anniversary celebrations and slammed BJP for allowing "illegal construction". The saffron party dismissed the allegations and in turn, asked AAP why was a license issued in the first place. Head of BJP Delhi, Manoj Tiwari called for a fair investigation. News about Begum and her desire to go back to Britain have ignited a debate in the UK about how to deal with citizens who joined IS and want to leave Syria now that the extremist group is on the verge of collapse. London: The family of Shamima Begum, the British teenager of Bangladeshi descent who ran away from here in 2015 to become an Islamic State jihadi bride, have urged the UK government to bring back the heavily-pregnant girl "urgently". Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green, east London, who left the UK for Syria at the age of 15. She was traced by the Times daily's reporter last week in a Syrian refugee camp after she escaped from Baghuz the Islamic States' last stronghold in eastern Syria. She is pregnant with her third child and keen to leave the war zone for the safety of her unborn child. Her parents, originally from Bangladesh, in a statement on Friday said the teenager's unborn baby was "total innocent" who had the right to grow up in the "peace and security" of the UK, the BBC reported on Saturday. In an interview with the Times earlier this week, Begum, now 19, said she had no regrets, but she wanted to come home to give birth to her baby. However, the government has indicated that it will not allow her to return. Justice Secretary David Gauke said there were national security risks to allowing people like Begum to return to Britain. But he did not rule it out. He told the BBC the UK needed to evaluate it on "a case by case basis". Home Secretary Sajid Javid said she could face charges on return. He told the Times there were a range of measures to stop IS supporters who posed a serious threat from returning to the UK, such as depriving them of British citizenship or excluding them from the country. Meanwhile, Alex Younger, chief of the intelligence service MI6, told the Munich Security Conference that British citizens "have a right to come to the UK". Begum's parents said they had "lost all hope" of seeing her again, saying she had risked "imprisonment and death" in escaping from the IS territory. They said they were "utterly shocked" by her lack of regret about joining IS, but that they were the "words of a girl who was groomed at the age of 15" and was surrounded by IS sympathisers. Story continues The family said they were concerned that Begum's mental health had been affected by her four years in Syria, during which she married an IS fighter and had two children who died. "Now we are faced with the situation of knowing that Shamima's young children have died -- children we will never come to know as a family. The welfare of Shamima's unborn child is of paramount concern to our family and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events." They said they would welcome an investigation into her actions in Syria "under the principles of British justice". Begum, along with Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, entered Syria via Turkey in February 2015. She said Kadiza Sultana had died after a house was bombed, but the fate of her other friend was unknown. The teenager had said her husband, a 27-year-old Dutch man, surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters when they escaped from Baghuz. By Cate Cadell and Philip Wen BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese surveillance firm is tracking the movements of more than 2.5 million people in the far-western Xinjiang region, according to a data leak flagged by a Dutch internet expert. An online database containing names, ID card numbers, birth dates and location data was left unprotected for months by Shenzhen-based facial-recognition technology company SenseNets Technology Ltd, according to Victor Gevers, co-founder of non-profit organisation GDI.Foundation, who first noted the vulnerability in a series of social media posts last week. Exposed data also showed about 6.7 million location data points linked to the people which were gathered within 24 hours, tagged with descriptions such as "mosque", "hotel," "internet cafe" and other places where surveillance cameras were likely to be found. "It was fully open and anyone without authentication had full administrative rights. You could go in the database and create, read, update and delete anything," said Gevers. China has faced an outcry from activists, scholars, foreign governments and U.N. rights experts over what they call mass detentions and strict surveillance of the mostly Muslim Uighur minority and other Muslim groups who call Xinjiang home.(https://tinyurl.com/y9zzouss) According to its website, SenseNets works with China's police across several cities. Its Shenzhen-listed parent company NetPosa Technologies Ltd has offices in a majority of Chinese provinces and regions, including Xinjiang. SenseNets and NetPosa, as well as the Xinjiang regional government, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday. The Chinese government has ramped up personal surveillance in Xinjiang over recent years, including the construction of an extensive video surveillance system and smartphone monitoring technology. Gevers said the foundation directly alerted SenseNets to the vulnerability, in line with GDI.Foundation protocol. He said SenseNets did not respond, but that it has since taken steps to secure the database. (Reporting by Cate Cadell and Philip Wen; Editing by Mark Potter) LONDON (Reuters) - British regional airline Flybmi has gone into administration and has cancelled all flights with immediate effect, the company said in a statement on Saturday, blaming Brexit uncertainty as one of the reasons for its collapse. A spokesperson for British Midland Regional Ltd said the company had taken the decision due to increased fuel and carbon costs and to uncertainty arising from Britain's plans to leave the European Union on March 29. The airline, based in the English East Midlands, operates 17 planes flying to 25 European cities. It employs 376 people in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Belgium. "We sincerely regret that this course of action has become the only option open to us, but the challenges, particularly those created by Brexit, have proven to be insurmountable," the company said. Spikes in fuel and carbon costs had undermined efforts to move the airline into profit. It added: "Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around bmi's ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe." The airline, which said it carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights in 2018, advised customers with bookings to contact their bank or payment card issuer to obtain refunds. (Reporting by Gareth Jones and Stephen Addison; Editing by Hugh Lawson) "Sadly, thinking has gone out of fashion among our present politicians." "Sadly, thinking has gone out of fashion among our present politicians." There is a current controversy about changing the name of the country from Philippines to Maharlika. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte suggested it in a recent public speech. He said the late President Ferdinand Marcos, who first raised the issue, was right. The President said the word Maharlika was a Malay word meaning royalty. On this score, some Filipino historians pointed out that the President was wrong to say it was a Malay word. Philologists pointed out that maharlika was actually derived from India. Changing a countrys name is not as simple as it seems. First of all, it is like switching our form of government from the presidential and bicameral Congress to federalism/paliamentary system. The sea change is going to be very costly. Our money from the coins to the peso bills will have to be demonitized, discarded and replaced with new ones bearing the maharlika name. Ditto the Constitution, the fundamental law of the land. All references to the Philippines will have to be amended to Maharlika. Maybe President Marcos foresaw the myriad problems that could arise from changing the countrys name which was why he abandoned the idea. While Marcos was a man who thought things through, sadly, thinking has gone out of fashion among out present politicians. Marcos first name was apparently taken after the Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan who discovered the Philippines in 1521. To change the name of the Philippines after King Philip II would have required him to change also his first name. Other Filipinos baptized by Spanish missionary priests would also start a beeline to the courts to have their names changed. The Spanish friars who probably ran out of Spanish names baptized Filipinos with the same names. Hence there are many Juan de la Cruzes, Jose Santoses and even Del Rosarios. So, whats in a name? A lot once is born and baptized with it. We are stuck with our names. An ambassador from one of those former Soviet satellites once asked me why Filipinos did not change the name of the Philippines. He said this connoted a slavic subservience to the King of Spain. As with diplomatic events, conversations like these were best ignored. A smile from me was the best repartee I could give the ambassador to show my disdain for his ignorance of history and culture.This is diplomacy, where silence does not mean acceptance nor agreement with another diplomats mindless view. However, when I saw this particular envoy again at another gathering, I took the offensive and remarked: Excellency, why dont you ask the American ambassador why the US continues to use America after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci who discovered America? I noticed a smirk instead of a smile from him. For all its current state of affairs, the United States of America has shown its resilience and greatness as a people to be a superpower. Being named after a colonizer has nothing to do with the making of a nation. But more than a name change of the Philippines, what matters more is a change in our attitude and the acceptance of a culture of corruption that had been pervasive since our independence on July 4, 1946. All right, June 12, 1898. On May 13 this year, Filipinos vote for another set of officials in the mid-term elections. Will they elect men and women as senators, representatives, governor and mayors who have proven track records of competence and with the peoples interest at heart? Or will it be the same scalawags whose only qualifications are their popularity and money? Several names of this ilk come to mind but we wont name them lest we are subjected to a libel suit. So let the people decide. Whom a voter chooses defines that voter more than it does the candidate. Do they want meaningful change, or are they easily swayed to vote for candidates who can entertain them by the usual song-and-dance repertoire? This is why those debates and interviews of candidates covered live on television are goodthey give voters a window into the candidates platform of government. Voters will be able to distinguish candidates who talk nonsene from those who have a vision of how to serve the people. Unfortunately, this benighted land does not have voters with the prescience and intelligence to elect the right people to lead them. 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. CHICAGO Earlier this month, on a cold, foggy night in the Loop, students in a public administration class at DePaul University had a conversation about whether they wanted to be public administrators. They wondered, if federal shutdowns and unpredictable governing are the State of Public Service in 2019, maybe they didn't care to become public servants? They didn't ask what their country could do for them. They asked why they should do for their country. Bradly Johnson sat at the front of the class wearing a concerned expression and a dark sweater. He said he didn't feel confident, he felt scared. He said, "Maybe it's a selfish reason, but I would worry about a paycheck -- could it be taken away by someone with an agenda?" He said if anyone came to him right now with a federal job he's perfect for, "I guess I would have to tell them, seriously, 'Hell no.' "I mean, do I want to be a part of that?" Angela Tucker, seated in the back row, shook her head slowly. Her dad works for the Department of Defense, he was paid throughout the latest shutdown, he was essential. "But I wonder, should I work for a department that might be less likely to be affected by any future shutdowns? Or do I work for a department more aligned with my passions?" The room went still. They are graduate students, most in their mid-20s. They were seasoned; a handful already had worked for the federal government. But this was not what they signed up for when they considered public service -- and there is statistical evidence that all of this wariness is having a toll on public administration programs nationwide. The students' textbooks were open to a section on "General Ethical Perspectives," textbooks that never anticipated the general perspective that the U.S. federal government might partially close someday and not pay nearly one million public servants for a month, then only weeks later veer toward yet another shutdown, because the executive branch wants to build a gigantic wall on the Mexican border. For the almost two dozen students in MPS 594 Ethical Leadership in Public Service, recent history loomed large. So Samantha Loo, their instructor, who prides herself on discussing with students the everyday ramifications of a life in government, set aside time to ask her public service students if the lurching, uncertain trajectory of government had them rethinking the future. "I mean, even if you're not planning to work for the federal government," she said to them, "how has (the potential for more shutdowns) effected outlooks on public service?" The room was cold, the students buried beneath layers of sweatshirts, down jackets and knitted shawls. Luis Gonzales, wrapped in a heavy blanket, said he works in HR hiring, "and so I think the worry now is those individuals who might be passionate about public service might not, you know, consider work in a place that's just not stable." Students said they can't stop thinking of anxious families. They said they can't stop thinking about federal employees making long commutes to "jobs that are no longer the secure government work they thought they signed up for." In other words, working for the government now is like working anywhere. Curse the federal bureaucracy, but once, for millions, bureaucracy meant a degree of stability, owning a home, having a family. James Perry, distinguished professor emeritus at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University in Bloomington, said there was a time when a worker entering the government in the '60s "might expect to spend 30 years in a federal job -- certainly there are people there now who still have those type of jobs." Indeed, ask around and public administration schools report that enrollment is either up or booming; the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy says enrollment doubled in as many years. That said, students at many of these schools are considering nongovernment careers in advocacy groups, nonprofits or consulting firms. "Plus, at least in Illinois, you have public service students who saw a state not being able to fund itself, and now they're wondering 'Why am I doing this?'" said Bob Blankenberger, chairman of the public administration department at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "It might be exacerbated lately but they see our ongoing love-hate with public administration, they hear the politicians' vow to fix 'lazy government workers' at the same time those same people tend to rely on the good graces of their expertise. So they get distressed over the negative atmosphere and taking a step towards that job." Or as Rebecca Hendrick, director of the doctoral graduate studies program in public administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, put it: "I wouldn't work for the federal government myself today, and I would instruct my own students to do the same." Despite what local universities say, according to the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration, national enrollment in public administration programs has been trending downward, particularly among those schools that have a curriculum focused on public administration at the federal level. The organization, a Washington-based group that provides accreditation to more than 300 university public administration programs, plans to formally study this year how the shutdown is affecting the attitudes of students. Until then, ask a future public servant. Patrick Hanley, a second-year graduate student at the Harris School, said "I firmly believe in public service, even at the federal level, but it breaks my heart." He interned for the U.S. Senate, the Department of Justice and worked in the office of the city treasurer in Chicago. He intends "to work on high-impact interesting projects that bring service to people." But "when your (college) debt payments are higher than your rent payments -- and I'm a single guy without a family -- your priorities are different. In a perfect world I would work directly for the government." Instead, he's going into private consulting. Perry said that at Indiana University, about 30 percent of public administration students now steer toward private consulting firms (that nevertheless often rely on government contracts). "The 'why,' however, is a combination of things. During the '90s, (federal jobs) became less secure. There were shutdowns, yes. But hyperpartisanship now means coming to agreements is harder. And so we have started to see a decline in the pursuit of those bipartisan public interests we thought we had in common -- like initiatives for clean air and water. You start to see disagreements in what public service means to us." There is optimism. Joe Wenzel, a UIC graduate student in public administration who served five years in the military, said some of his fellow students are "looking to the nonprofit side (after graduating) where at least they don't have to deal with a random political appointee who doesn't believe in the mission of the agency they run," but for him, "all this turbulence within the government has only reinforced in me the need to have decent public servants." At Northern Illinois University, Kurt Thurmaier, chairman of the public administration department, said his program rarely hears about discouraged students, "because we never see the federal government as their pinnacle anyway." He said the school -- which claims to have graduated a third of the city managers in Illinois -- sticks to local government, "and there are dysfunctional city councils but you don't hear much about local governments shutting down over ideological clashes." Meanwhile, at DePaul, Meghan Mathew sat in the back corner. She had done two years in the Peace Corps, spent time in Zambia with developmentally disabled students. She raised her hand slowly and spoke with a toneless anger. "I feel pushed away from public service now, I don't feel valued, because you see how someone who doesn't value public service themselves can use power to take away health care and impact my family. So yeah, of course it affects my outlook, no question." Dana Dutcher nodded fast in agreement. She said that she worked for a nonprofit and would like to be part of an organization that works closer with government, "but to work for a government, with an 'America First' agenda, that doesn't care about the human rights of its employees? I do have faith this will end when someone is out of office." Veronica Puryear listened and raised her hand. 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, "I'll 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 we'll 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." A few seats away another public administration student leaned over to the student beside her and, once Puryear was finished, the student whispered: "Democracy! Democracy!" Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 DECATUR Peanut butter, pasta and other perishable foods can be found at local food banks, but what about Purina, Pedigree or Alpo for those four-legged family members? Food banks provide for those in the community who dont always have resources available to feed themselves or their families, but pets sometimes are an afterthought. One group is trying to change that in central Illinois. Each month, pet owners have the opportunity to visit a food bank designed especially for their furry family members. The New Hope Animal Shelter Pet Food Bank began serving central Illinois this year. The next distribution event will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at 801 N. Water St. in Decatur. The building was formerly the News Stand. Matthew Schmahl, New Hope Animal Shelter Board of Directors president, said the plan is simple: To help out the community with the animals as well as the owners." The shelter said the pet food bank is for low-income families who struggle with much but still care for their pets. But we dont require any proof that they are (low income), Schmahl said. If they are a working family that needs help as well, were not going to turn them away. The pet food bank items including food, toys, leashes, pet clothing and kitty litter are donated by community members, businesses and the Macon County Animal Control and Care Center. We get anything you could think of for your animal, Schmahl said. The staff recommends owners not bring their pets with them to the Pet Food Bank due to the limited building space. Families are given a half-price discount on all items, Schmahl said, and proceeds go toward New Hope Animal Shelter and Northeast Community Fund. If anyone wishes to donate to the shelter's Pet Food Bank, they are encouraged to drop off items at 2026 Dagmar Place in Decatur. We cant man this place all the time, said Suzi Morrow, secretary and board member. In this weather we dont really want to. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Contact information should be left with the donations. We like to know who is it coming from, Morrow said. We just want to thank them. New Hope Animal Shelter fundraisers include a game night called Bets For Pets on March 16 at the Masonic Temple, Plants 4 Pets Plant Sale during the Richland Community College Saturday Markets starting in June and Artisans for Animals, an arts and crafts festival on May 4 at the Decatur Club. Although organizers have been able to spread the word about the Pet Food Bank through various events, other animal lovers have learned about it through the grapevine. Lana Hoey of Decatur wanted to help after learning about the food bank from Morrow. Hoey recently donated food to the Pet Food Bank. She has a family of feathered and furry friends in her house as well as on her farm. She feeds cats, dogs and chickens, but the wild squirrels, raccoons and birds are also helped. Im an animal lover, Hoey said. But so many are mistreated. Not because people are mean, but because they didnt know what they were getting in to. The goal of New Hope Animal Shelter was to take over where Homeward Bound left off. Homeward Bound closed in 2016, leaving a gap for animal and pet assistance in the community. We tried to look at what the community needed and tailored what we are doing to that, Schmahl said. New Hope Animal Shelter was established as a nonprofit organization to provide no-kill animal rescue and shelter in Macon County, Schmahl said. Future plans include community outreach such as affordable spay/neuter programs, education and health care, as well as building up the Pet Food Bank. The ultimate goal is to provide a rescue hub for the area. The center will focus on rescue and foster programs, as well as support areas for veterinarian care, meet-and-greets and temporary shelter. Hoey said she makes sure she is able to donate good, healthy food for all families to feed their pets. I now have the third Thursday of the month set to donate things, Hoey said. During the previous Pet Food Bank day, the response from families was positive, Schmahl said. Pretty much everything we had we sold, Schmahl said. We had very little left at the end of the day. HSHS St. Mary's Hospital hosts Blessing of the Animals service Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR Macon County and Decatur leaders are still waiting to find out how much money theyll get from a new sales tax on online purchases, more than four months after the state began collecting it. Municipalities for years have complained about lost sales tax revenue as shoppers bypassed physical stores for online buying. That meant less money for road repairs, salaries and new equipment. In Decatur, sales tax proceeds bring in more than $20 million annually, nearly a third of its general fund. But sales tax numbers have been falling over time, while the cost of doing business continues to rise. "Im not sure it will ever be at the level that it was back in the day," Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe said, "but were anxious to get some of that money back." Relief came in the form of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June, South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc., that closed the loophole and said retailers could be forced to pay online sales tax, even if they didnt have a brick-and-mortar store. Illinois lawmakers created a provision to collect the revenue starting in the fall, with the state Department of Revenue distributing the money to municipalities starting in January. But theres a catch: Today, its still unclear how much that total will be or how it could help municipal coffers. Decatur city leaders expect to process their first payment that includes the online proceeds later this month. Moore Wolfe said Decatur city leaders are "holding their breath" to see how much revenue will come in. Under the new rule, the state starting in October began collecting a 6.25 percent sales tax from sellers who conduct at least 200 transactions or earn more than $100,000. That means shoppers pay a few extra dollars when buying from websites like Overstock and Wayfair. The law doesnt affect purchases from e-commerce giant Amazon, which has culled sales tax from Illinois shoppers since 2015. 'Game-changer': How the U.S. Supreme Court's sales tax ruling could affect Decatur DECATUR The effects of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling could lead to some relief for Decatur taxpayers by helping to stabilize the citys bigges The tax could make a dent on declining retail revenues dating back to the recession of the 2000s. Even as the economy and the jobs market have improved in the area, the nationwide decline of retailers like Sears, J.C. Penney and Toys R Us has been felt in Decatur as well. Its still unclear what impact will be felt among local businesses. One thought is that consumers will move back to local retailers because online purchases wont mean as much of a savings as before. Owners of brick-and-mortar businesses welcomed the new law, saying it could help them compete with online sellers who had enjoyed the advantage of selling tax-free. It is very good because it does level the playing field for our retailers, said Mirinda Rothrock, president of the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce. I think we all make an effort to shop local and buy local. It really benefits our community. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Local businesses havent reported any notable changes in shopping behaviors since the law took effect, Rothrock said. The Chamber had stepped up efforts to encourage buying local, and that campaign has generated positive results, she said. Rothrock suggested that most shoppers probably did not realize they were getting a deal on most of their online purchases. I think theres this mindset that sales tax was already being collected, she said. Of course, were all price-conscious, but I dont think consumers were trying to dodge it. I think there was an expectation that it was already being collected. At All Things Beautiful in downtown Decatur, owner Sheryol Threewit said the impact of the new law has been minimal. The business, which sells clothing, accessories, decor and gifts, has a clientele that is older and less likely to gravitate toward online retailers, she said. I think people are willing to spend on things they want, she said. Statewide, its estimated $200 million in additional money would come as a result of the tax change, continuing a trend. A total of $1.47 billion in out-of-state sales taxes were brought in last year, up about $170 million from 2017, according to the state. Any of that money would help, said Macon County Board Chairman Kevin Greenfield. The county is anticipating a budget shortfall of more than $1 million in the coming fiscal year. There has been no estimate for what additional revenue the county will be received from the ruling, though theyre watching the projections closely, he said. Anything we can collect is well appreciated, without question, he said. For Decatur, previous estimates place the additional revenue for the city at $200,000 to $250,000 a year. That money would go into the general fund to pay for everyday expenses, Moore Wolfe said. She said one concern is whether state officials will see the additional revenue as a possible solution to their own budget issues. Until we see the money start rolling in, she said, Im cautiously optimistic. Decatur-area business openings and closings Contact Ryan Voyles at (217) 421-7985. Follow him on Twitter: @RVVoyles Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 4 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. CHICAGO If you're the anti-social type, automation has made life a bit easier. You can grab lunch, groceries or movie tickets without interacting with cashiers. Check into your hotel room without stopping at the front desk. Retrieve the goods you ordered via touch-screen kiosk or mobile app from a locker and avoid having to thank a soul. Consumer preference is partly behind this latest wave of mechanization, but businesses also are pressed to streamline operations in the face of a tight job market and rising labor costs. With Illinois poised to adopt a $15 minimum wage, nearly double the current rate in parts of the state, companies that have yet to automate tasks may jump on the bandwagon. "They're chipping away at manual tasks to reduce the number of hours employees have to work," said Rob Wilson, managing director and partner in the Chicago office of L.E.K. Consulting, a strategy firm. "A lot of it is under way. ... This (the minimum wage increase) would just accelerate it." Consumers will likely see more restaurants and stores invest in technology like self-checkout kiosks and electronic shelf labels that can automatically update prices, Wilson said. Companies that have been rolling out those technologies, including Chicago-based McDonald's and Kroger Co., say that rather than replacing workers, the new systems free up employees to do tasks where they add more value. McDonald's, for example, has created the role of "guest experience leader" to help customers navigate the kiosks and has other employees bringing food to tables. But Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, worries that Illinois' $15 minimum wage might force businesses to automate when it's not in the best interest of customers or employees. And some small businesses that can't afford to invest in technological efficiencies worry they'll be at a competitive disadvantage as wages rise and they are forced to increase prices. Legislation to gradually increase Illinois' minimum hourly wage to $15 by 2025, up from $8.25 currently, was approved Thursday by the state House and now heads to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is expected to sign it. Illinois will be the fifth state in the nation to adopt a $15 minimum wage, after California, New York, Massachusetts and, most recently, New Jersey. The hike to $15 with a first incremental step to $9.25 coming Jan. 1 will force not only higher hotel room rates in towns already struggling to maintain tourist interest, but also greater adoption of technologies that allow management to reduce labor hours, Jacobson said. Hotels might offer guests bonus points to use mobile check-in and digital room keys via their smartphones, he said. Already some chains offer guests similar incentives if they forgo housekeeping for a day. Even kitschy technologies, like robots that deliver toiletries and other requests to rooms, might transition from fun toys to necessities, he said. "The more and more that labor costs increase, you're going to see it become less trendy and more a reality," Jacobson said. Darin Dame, general manager of the Residence Inn Springfield, expects average room rates in town to increase from $86 currently to $125 per night by the time the minimum wage hike is fully rolled out, as hotels adjust to wage pressures not only from their own employees but that of their vendors. With both Indiana and Missouri less than two hours away, Dame worries tourists will spend the night there instead and make Springfield a day trip to see the Lincoln sights. Greater use of mobile check-in or having robots vacuum floors may help alleviate some of the costs, but he fears the impact on an industry centered on hospitality. "As of today in society people like that (human) interaction, and if we lose that, what is that going to do to their interest in coming to Illinois?" Dame said. Getting wallets to open wider Minimum wage laws are one of many factors pushing business toward automation, said David Portalatin, vice president and food industry advisor at NPD Group, a market research firm. The difficulty of finding workers to perform low-wage jobs is also driving the trend, as well as the fact that consumers seem to like the convenience, he said. Self-ordering systems improve order accuracy, retain customers' order history and allow businesses to collect data that help them target promotions and develop menus, Portalatin said. Restaurant orders placed online or on mobile devices have increased 23 percent over the past five years while consumer traffic overall has been flat, so it's a rare bright spot for growth, he said. Machines also never forget to invite customers to add a dessert, a beverage, or another item to their order, which may be one reason people open their wallets wider when interacting with a machine. Average spend rises 20 percent, and frequency of visits rises 6 percent, when people use technology to place an order inside a quick-service restaurant, according to a study from Deloitte. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The automation Walmart is introducing is intended to give customers a range of convenient ways to shop, the company says. It is testing robots that scan store shelves to check for out-of-stock items or missing price information and systems that sort new inventory so workers spend less time unloading merchandise. Some stores have vending-machinelike "pickup towers" where customers can retrieve items ordered online. "We are playing a long game and investing in technology and associates because we need to be that retailer who customers can rely on," said Anne Hatfield, Walmart's director of state and local communications for the Central U.S. "There are so many ways to invest, it's not one versus the other." Some of those new shopping options have created new roles, like overseeing preparation of online orders customers opt to pick up at the store. "If we can help get automation to pick up the tedious stuff, associates can focus on things that benefit customers," she said. Chicken wing chain Wingstop is investing in self-ordering kiosks and lockers where customers pick up their orders because "they demand that of us in today's fast paced lifestyle," and streamlined workflow is a secondary benefit, spokesman Brian Bell said. Similarly, the restaurant chain replaced labor-intensive side dishes like potato salad and coleslaw with several varieties of loaded fries because of customer tastes, and a side perk is that they take less time to make, he said. Not all automation efforts have gone smoothly. Shake Shack abandoned plans to expand cashierless and cash-free restaurants after customers at its pilot location in New York complained. The burger chain is now introducing kiosks alongside cashiers, and testing in markets with high labor costs like San Francisco. A group of McDonald's franchisees, who operate 90 percent of its 14,000 U.S. stores, complained of cash flow problems as the chain rolled out restaurant remodels that include self-service kiosks and systems for more delivery orders. The fast food giant extended the remodel deadline by two years, to 2022, in response. But Charlie Buchanan, senior manager in human capital consulting practice at Deloitte, says automation can be a win-win-win for consumers, employees and the business. A big part of success is reassigning workers to capitalize on their skill sets, and he urges clients to ask employees what they're interested in doing if mundane tasks are taken off their hands. "What I think is exciting about this is that you're really giving people a chance to dynamically upskill their talent in a way that frees them up to do something that creates a differentiated customer experience," Buchanan said. Asked if a rising minimum wage might push more companies to automate, he said, "I hope so." Workers are still needed Even with automation, most businesses still need human employees, they're just putting them to work differently. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects tens of thousands of new jobs in food preparation and restaurant service, and even now there are more jobs than can be filled by the current labor force. While jobs may change to focus more on customer service than transactions, that could be a good thing, Lathrop said. "Retail and fast food really do need workers to be present," Lathrop said. "This gives an opportunity to rethink all these roles, to rethink the value of these low-wage workers and role they play in the profit-making of their employer." The whiz-bang examples of automation are unlikely to see widespread adoption for now, analysts say. Instead, most shops are investing in behind-the-scenes technology that trims costs or helps workers do their jobs more efficiently. "The cost of putting robots in every store is incredibly high," said Brendan Witcher, e-commerce analyst with Forrest Research. "They're trying to figure out ways to reduce costs, not add more through automation." Despite companies' assertions that minimum wage increases are not fueling automation, surveys suggest labor costs are a major business concern. About 38 percent of food service operators considered rising labor costs a top barrier to growth, according to a 2017 survey conducted by L.E.K. Consulting. To help control labor costs, 41 percent said they were looking to reduce the number of people they employed full-time, and 32 percent said they tried to limit at least some employees to 30 hours a week or less. "Where folks can automate, they will, and as the technology gets more efficient and the costs come down, they adopt it," said Tanya Triche Dawood, vice president and general counsel at the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. "This is the future of work. The ultimate person who pays the price is people seeking entry level jobs." Some small Illinois businesses now facing a $15 minimum wage are worried about how they will make it work. Brett Zehr, owner of the IGA grocery store in Mackinaw, Illinois, said increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour would add $150,000 to $200,000 annually to his costs by the time he includes payroll taxes and workman's compensation for his 31 employees. His community of about 2,000 people doesn't generate enough foot traffic to absorb the costs, and although only a handful of those employees earn the minimum wage -- they're high school students -- others will also expect an increase as wages go up, he said. "There are only two things I can do: Cut people and hours, or raise prices. And we've kind of got hours cut back as far as we can and still serve customers," Zehr said. "I don't think I'll survive." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 3 SHELBYVILLE The recent loss of a County Market grocery store has Shelbyville residents scrambling to find a new food source, with some now traveling out of town to fill their pantries. The store closed Jan. 26, with Quincy-based owner Niemann Foods citing financial challenges. The loss is part of a national trend toward fewer grocery stores, particularly in rural areas. Now, the citys roughly 5,200 residents were left with three options: Walmart, Dollar General and Wades Quality Meats. But many say those choices leave a void for a small, easy-to-navigate store with plenty of produce. They have been a longstanding staple to the area, said Jody McCormick, director of the Greater Shelbyville Area Chamber of Commerce, and it is sad to see them go." Community leaders say it is too soon to tell what business might occupy the space on Illinois 16. "We have several vacant buildings in Shelbyville we would love to fill," McCormick said. "It takes a special individual and a leap of faith to open a business." Mayor Jeff Johnson said business owners have been speaking with Shelby County Economic Development about potentially renting the County Market space, but no legitimate offers have been made yet. Going the distance Many Shelbyville residents are now traveling to surrounding communities. Employees of Windsor Food Center, 12 miles from Shelbyville, and Panas County Market, 16 miles away, have both noticed an influx of Shelbyville residents stopping in. On a recent Tuesday, three elderly customers from Shelbyville stopped into the Windsor Food Center within five minutes, all expressing concerns about losing County Market, said co-owner Daric Peadro. "We always want more business," Peadro said, but he would never wish for a business to close and for people to lose their jobs. Chris Adams, the store director of County Market in Pana, said he could not quantify the number of Shelbyville people who have visited the store over the last couple of weeks, but he has definitely noticed an increase. He said he is always happy to welcome loyal County Market customers. In Shelbyville, Wades Quailty Meats offers beef, pork and poultry cuts, brats and burgers, and deli meats and cheeses. Owner Wade Duckett said he would rather not comment about whether business has increased after County Markets closure. The city does have a Walmart Supercenter on West Main Street. But some elderly residents in particular dont like to go there because of the amount of walking it requires, said Doris Fair, a volunteer at the Shelby County Senior Center. Fair said she and her husband have been going to Aldi grocery stores in surrounding towns for produce, and shopping at Wades Quality Meats for meat products. Part of a trend Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Faced with the increasing cost of doing business and competition from convenience and dollar stores, rural grocery stores are closing at an increasing rate, particularly in Midwestern and Great Plains states. For example, the number of grocery stores in Iowa dropped from 1,400 in 1995 to just over 700 in 2005, according to a 2010 report from the Center for Rural Affairs. Over the same period, "supercenter" stores such as Walmart and Target increased 175 percent. The term food desert, meaning an area without easy access to fresh produce, is typically associated with urban neighborhoods, but it can apply to rural areas as well. The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers a neighborhood a food desert if at least a fifth of the residents live in poverty and a third live more than 10 miles from a supermarket, or more than a mile in urban areas. The problem is attracting attention: The Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University offers tools for business owners to help their independent stores survive. Central Illinois has suffered from the loss of a number of grocery stores in recent years. Pawnee Food Center closed in January 2015. Ramsey's grocery store closed suddenly in December 2014. Cerro Gordo lost its grocery store in 2013 after about 50 years in business, according to Illinois Public Radio. In Decatur, two grocery stores closed last year: County Market at 1450 E. Pershing Road and Kroger in Fairview Plaza, the latter shutting its doors after more than 50 years in business. Westside residents protested the decision, but the company said the store was no longer profitable. The Kroger Co. also closed its lone store in Lincoln, citing the same financial reasons. A former County Market at 1175 W. Grand Ave. in Decatur was rebranded as a Save-A-Lot in 2017. Looking to the future McCormick, of the Chamber of Commerce, said she hopes residents who are traveling out of town to buy groceries will remember that the money spent in other communities doesnt benefit Shelbyville. But she said its too soon to tell the full impact of the stores closing on the citys economy. McCormick and Johnson both said they are optimistic about the future and potential for another business to fill the void. But its unclear right now who that might be. Tim Christer, the owner of Save-A-Lot in Pana, said it is too early for him to decide on whether to open a Save-A-Lot store in the old County Market location. "I have not pursued that yet," he said. Lisa Klein, an employee of Kirby Foods Inc. said people have been calling the corporation and are curious whether an IGA will open in Shelbyville. To her knowledge, thats not something the company is interested in doing. Brenda Elder, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with Shelby County Economic Development, said residents will miss County Market, but would welcome future friendly competition among any new or expanded businesses. "Seeing Shelbyville grow and prosper is always a goal that we strive for, she said. Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Elsie Arntzen should resign as Montanas superintendent of Public Instruction. She is failing to uphold her constitutional duties when she advocates and supports state aid to private schools. Lets be clear. Article X, Section 1 of the Constitution of Montana explicitly states that it is the states responsibility for our public schools. And Article X, Section 6 explicitly states Aid prohibited to sectarian schools. At a rally for public funding for private schools on Jan. 24, Ms. Arntzen demonstrated her support for school choice. (IR 1/25/2019) School choice already exists. Public schools the constitutional responsibility of the state are supported by tax dollars. Private schools the responsibility of private entities are supported by private money. Instead of advocating school choice, Ms. Arntzen should provide compelling leadership to fund adequately Montanas schools and financially strapped rural schools so those schools can recruit and retain quality teachers. STEVENSVILLE Call them mustangs. Or brumbies. Just dont call the wild horses of the Sapphire Mountains invaders. Theyre remnants from the time when the Salish had horses here, said SuZanne Miller, who often sees the elusive bands from her ranch on the Bitterroot River. All horses in North America are from feral stock brought over by the Spanish. These have been added to by various escapes from local horse owners. But most are born in the wild at this point. About 50 horses wander the forests between the Bitterroot and Rock Creek. Rarely seen in the summer, they often gather on the grasslands of the MPG Ranch east of Stevensville in winter. Some travel in bands of 10 or a dozen, while a few lone stallions or bachelor tandems keep more to themselves. They display a grab-bag of varieties, including draft, palomino, pinto, quarter and rodeo rough stock. They also display an attitude unlike any other wild herbivore in Montana. Gifted with great strength and speed, wild horses will investigate newcomers where deer and elk bolt for cover. That gives them confidence to display curiosity in disconcerting ways. Theres a real consciousness in there, MPG Ranch video supervisor Alan Ramsey said of his encounters with inquisitive horses. They send out sentries who figure out how the rest of the band should react. Wild horse bands differ from other wildlife in remarkable ways. They have complex social structures, with alpha stallions and mares topping a pecking order. The stallions stay with the band year-round, unlike bucks and bulls that often hang in bachelor herds. That gives horses a better defense against predators such as mountain lions, wolves and bears. They fill a unique niche in the landscape as well. Their full hooves make them the best ice-breakers in the woods, and other species benefit from their ability to open water holes in winter. They also have better teeth for nipping dried grass and brush than elk do. They can bite off the two- and three-year-old dead leaves on bunch grass that elk wont touch, Ramsey said. That stuffs useless to elk until a fire or a horse takes it off. A 2014 study Ramsey and Katharine Roggeveen produced for MPG Ranch cataloged the extensive history of wild horses in the Bitterroot Valley. In their compilation, they started by observing North Americas original horse species was about the size of a house cat. The continents pre-ice age horse fossils turned up in digs in the Bighorn Basin of Montana and Wyoming dating to 55 million years ago. Around 4.8 million years ago, the Equus simplicidens ancestral horse appeared and eventually split into zebras, asses and modern horses. A large concentration of horse fossils has been explored near Hagerman, Idaho. A Pryor Mountain cave in Montana produced a horse bone dated to 13,860 years ago. However, archaeologists conclude that those horses died out of North America around 10,000 years ago during the end of the last ice age. While some remains in Alberta and Texas appear to date between 1,000 and 8,000 years ago, most researchers agree modern horses didnt return to North America until Spanish settlers brought their mounts from Europe in 1519. Shoshone Indians appear to be the first tribe to acquire horses in the Northwest, shortly after 1690. The Bitterroot Salish probably got their first herds from the Shoshone sometime between 1700 and 1730. Lewis and Clark reported trading horses with a party of Salish Indians in 1805: Those people possess ellegant horses (sic). Stevensville historians reported that Blackfeet raiding parties often tried to acquire Salish horses in the Bitterroot Valley, where at times at least 4,000 were pastured. A note by the Florence Civic Club mentioned the presence of wild horses in the Eight Mile and Woodchuck hills in the 1880s. In 1891, Chief Charlos community of Bitterroot Salish made their forced relocation to the Flathead Indian Reservation on Oct. 15, 1891 in a mile-long procession, with several hundred horses. The wild horses appeared in local news accounts throughout the 1900s. Rodeo promoter Oral Zumwalt had a 12,000-acre ranch in Miller Creek at the southern end of the Missoula Valley and often let his rodeo stock winter in the Sapphire Mountains there. After complaints from other ranchers who said their grazing land was overrun by the rodeo and wild horses, the state Livestock Commission conducted an aerial roundup on the neighboring Shroeder (now MPG) Ranch. Using a dozen helicopters, the wranglers were able to corral 100 of the estimated 240 horses running loose. Three-quarters of those turned out to be branded and were returned to their owners or sold at auction. Reg Kesler took over Zumwalts operation in 1962 and continued to hold rodeos in Miller Creek until he closed shop in 1995. An estimated 30 to 40 wild horses continued to hold out in the Sapphires. In 1981, then-Ravalli County Sheriff Dale Dye investigated the shooting of 18 wild horses northeast of Florence. That built on several other tales of Bitterroot residents prowling the hills seeking horses for impromptu bucking contests, ranch mounts and mischief. That illustrates the wild horses odd legal status. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 makes all unbranded and unclaimed horses on U.S. public lands wild animals, and prohibits their removal, killing or domestication. The Bureau of Land Management has responsibility for them on federal land. However, Montana law does not acknowledge the existence of wild horses, and prohibits abandoned or stray horses from running at large. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has little to do with them, as they dont classify as either a big-game or a non-game animal. Most of the desire to control them has come from the ranching community, Miller said. They can be hard on fences, and they do compete with cows for grass. But its a lot less so now because of the change in land ownership here. There are fewer people in the cattle industry. I tell people we have a wild horse herd across the river, and they just roll their eyes. Love 36 Funny 1 Wow 2 Sad 1 Angry 4 There are many options, and details can be found online at marketmt.com. Business owners just need to be willing to bring their situations forward. Dont be overwhelmed, Sobrepena said. We can get you access to good information. Doing business with the Montana Department of Transportation is just as easy but can be just as overwhelming. MDOT looks to local businesses to work on a variety of projects. From road to fence construction and including aeronautics to janitorial services, MDOT has many needs. There are several ways to get businesses in front of the department, but first they must be certified. Certification is done through the Business Development Program. If youre a business, its definitely worth becoming familiar with our website, www.mdt.mt.gov, said Kolby Manderle, purchasing services sections supervisor. Sheila Cornwell, owner of Montana Adventure Shuttle of Missoula, is a member of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. She said she was surprised to find out how much is available for small businesses to utilize. She hadnt been aware of some of the programs and would be trying to see how they could fit with her businesses. The summit and its attendance grows every year. LeAnn Montes, attorney general for the Chippewa Cree Tribe on the Rocky Boy reservation, said one of the most important things to know before approaching a reservation is its history. Know where they are coming from, Montes said. If you say something inappropriate to one person, youre saying it to the community. Understand where the tribe has been and where its coming from. Each tribe is unique. It is critical to identify with them and to be culturally sensitive. The most common mistake reservation visitors make, she said, is going to the wrong building. Second, is leaving a message with the wrong person. Signage is lacking on reservations. Its a misnomer that you cant do business in Indian country. She said the reservation outsources work it could do internally. By working together, ideas can be created to foster businesses on reservations. If businesses are looking for employees, there are many to be found on the reservation, Montes said. But the business must come to the reservation. Jason Smith, state director of Indian affairs for the governors office, said the most important thing to do before conducting business on a reservation is to build a relationship with the tribal government. The chairman of the House committee on appropriations warned Sunday that thethat Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno insists on imposing would institutionalize corruption and result in poor quality national infrastructure projects. Camarines Sur Rep.under the 2019 national budget since that would only limit appropriations, bidding, completion of projects and payments within a single year. Instead of fighting corruption, it would only worsen and be widespread under Secretary Dioknos cash-based budgeting system. This would institutionalize corruption in the Department of Public Works and Highways. And who would benefit? Small, ill-equipped suppliers or contractors, he said. Andaya, a former Department of Budget and Management secretary, said someat the end of the year. Under the present obligation-based budgeting, the government could spread out the appropriations across two years to enable the projects to be completed, he said. READ: 'Budget probe not over' He also cited testimony from ex-DPWH secretary Rogelio Singson that he was against one-year cash budgeting for capital outlays because it would only encourage corruption in government contracts.Singson also said such a system would limit projects to smaller amounts to ensure payment and completion within the year, jeopardizing the quality of the projects due to the absence of large, qualified contractors. During my term, I purposely packaged construction contracts above P150 million so that DPWH could attract qualified contractors who would be required to provide proper equipment considering that their contracts were big enough to warrant investing in good equipment. Thats why we now see many of the contractors with concrete or asphalt pavers and invested in appropriate construction equipment, Singson told Congress. READ: Diokno accused of P40-billion bribe try I suggest that the DBM secretary get a copy of the 2017 PIDS discussion paper of Rene Santiago, a fellow at the Foundation for Economic Freedom, Andaya said. Mr. Santiagos study on planning and programming of capital projects at the agency level cites the bad example UK had with cash-based budgeting. To meet its one-year time constraint, agencies were forced to cluster expenditures in the last few months of the year, he added. READ: Payables spurred kickbacksAndaya Re: The overall operating costs of many small farms are reduced when the [ #permalink The answer is B. We can solve this question using the Precise This assumes, among other things, that the large farms have the means to implement this technique (B) that they have enough manure. approach, as there is enough information to figure out the answer by ourselves.The passage argues that since a technique (using double the manure, rotating crops)is good for small farms, it will also be good for large farms.: that they have the equipment to rotate the crops, and also -_________________ giobru95 wrote: Hi, I'd appreciate your comments on the following profile. 23 y/o South American male MEng. Chemical Engineer GMAT : 730 (Q49, V41) 1st attempt GPA: First Class Honours ( i think they equate this to 4.0 GA( from Imperial College London (top UK uni) I am considering applying to bschools this year, for admission in 2020. Background and Work experience : - Moved when i was 17 to London for uni. Before that lived in SA all my life. - Drilling Engineer at BP for 2 yr's this September. First yr I was an offshore drilling engineer working in a rig supervising BP operations. - Second yr - Onshore drilling engineering. So far have been helping out the more experienced engineers so limited leadership opportunities. I am trying to push to get more responsibility - ideally managing the development and planning of multi-million wells (sounds fancier than it is, standard job of a DE). Led some cost saving opportunities that have been adopted. - WE wise I am on the low side, and the job is typical of someone from an oil major. How can i spin this round? - No promotions. Oil majors have slow career progressions. I may finish my graduate programme early. Should i wait another yr? I will likely have the same responsibilities as of now except i am guaranteed to graduate by then. If i graduate i will be told on November, so cannot apply on Round 1. Any drawback on this? Extras: . Last yr i led a fund raise in Aberdeen to raise money for a poor local school in my home country, . Salsa dancing since uni (7 yrs). Looking to participate in local shows. Raise south am culture - how can i spin this? . Looking for some volunteer ops within the company. How beneficial will this be? MBA Goal: Long-term goal is to be a business leader at an energy company (oil major) taking part in how O&G adapts to threats like tech + low prices and also be part of the future of renewables. Short term - MBB to obtain experience of the energy industry and O&G on companies of various sizes and learn about strategy. Targets: Harvard, Wharton, LBS, (Top 3 choices) Insead, Kellog, Booth. Thanks a lot! Minutes to Admission Weekly newsletter, were, in a 5-min video, we share admissions insights that help you stand out. To sign up for the FREE newsletter, register Join ournewsletter, were, in a 5-min video, we share admissions insights that help you stand out. To sign up for the FREE newsletter, register here . Or copy and paste the URL in your browser: https://www.siaadmissions.com/minutes-to-admission Susan Berishaj Sia Admissions info@siaadmissions.com +1 (646) 690 - 9996 website: Contact us for a complimentary profile evaluation Susan BerishajSia Admissionsinfo@siaadmissions.com+1 (646) 690 - 9996website: http://www.SiaAdmissions.com Contact us for a Signature Read More WASHINGTON The outdoor recreation industry can help the nations efforts to break free from polluting fuels that contribute to global warming, a Grand Junction business owner said recently during a congressional hearing on clean energy. Our [area] has been on the leading edge of change that has been playing out in rural communities throughout the United States, said Sarah Shrader, owner and co-founder of Bonsai Design, a company that develops outdoor adventure courses. She was referring to an economy in the Grand Junction area that has historically depended heavily on the mining, oil and gas industries but now is diversifying into other enterprises. Bonsai Design is one of them, along with tourism and agriculture, including winemaking. The House Natural Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, of which Diana DeGette, D-Denver, is a member, invited Shrader to speak about her business as an example of better alternatives to polluting energy industries. Subcommittee members said they would like the U.S. economy to use more renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. They also want to make sure workers in the mineral extraction industries have other employment opportunities if their jobs are phased out. Shrader whom new Gov. Jared Polis named last November as a member of his transition team on economic development matters said some of her companys 50 employees otherwise would be working in oil and gas fields that traditionally provided workers with low incomes and unreliable boom or bust opportunities. Bonsai Design is one of many businesses and communities along the Western Slope that are finding alternatives to mineral extraction, she said. These communities are now rebranding themselves as economic hubs, Shrader said. The rebranding can include partnerships among the outdoor recreation, health care and manufacturing businesses, all of which contribute to growing the local economies, she said. The rebranded communities also are placing a higher priority on education and attracting new residents, she said. New residents want the quality of life from investments we made in outdoor recreation, Shrader said. Many of the ideas discussed at the congressional hearing are similar to proposals from Polis. He has set a goal of transforming all of Colorados energy sources to renewable sources by 2040. Congressional Democrats, including newly elected U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Boulder, set out similar goals in the Green New Deal they announced last week. It is a 10-year plan to switch the United States to renewable energy sources while phasing out fossil fuels. It also seeks employment opportunities. The part of the Green New Deal discussed extensively at the congressional hearing Feb. 12 calls for meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources." Republicans on the subcommittee called it unrealistic, saying it could cost the United States $1 trillion a year at a time of record deficits. One of them was U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the state that produces the nations most coal to fuel electrical generators. She said the New Green Deal sets an agenda that would shut down most of the nations air and automobile travel if it is carried to completion. Despite complaints about the coal industry, the reliability is something that simply cannot be replaced, she said. She asked each of the six witnesses at Tuesday's hearing whether they supported the Green New Deal. They generally responded with only weak statements of support for its environmental cleanup ambitions. Shrader said, Im not an expert on the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal is one of several proposals under discussion in Congress aimed at addressing climate change and clean energy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Feb. 7 that she welcomed the "enthusiasm" of backers of the Green New Deal but did not endorse the plan. Democrats who now make up a majority in Congress called the hearing because of what they called President Donald Trumps inaction on climate change. The worst is yet to come, said U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., the subcommittee chairman. There must be changes in the way we produce and use energy in this country. He added, We dont have a lot of time. A gunman shot a clerk as the two struggled during a stickup Saturday morning at a gas station in northeast Colorado Springs, police said. The clerk, whose name was not released, had non life-threatening injuries. The suspect, Vincent Lupori, 19, was arrested about two hours after the robbery and shooting. Police did not say what charges he is facing. The armed robber entered the Valero at North Carefree Circle and Powers Boulevard about 8:30 a.m. and demanded money from the clerk, police reported. Lupori was seen fleeing the gas station in a white Ford SUV, which police found abandoned nearby. For the next hour and a half, police combed the area of Barnes Road, Oro Blanco Drive, North Carefree Circle and North Powers Boulevard. The Police Department sent out a reverse 911 call regarding the suspect, and a person who spotted Lupori called to report his location. Police expanded their search to the Old Farm and High Chaparral Open Area and found Lupori about 10 a.m. Both neighborhoods were briefly put in lockdown. Police are investigating whether the Valero robbery is connected to others that occurred earlier Saturday. Click here for police activity map. You may have been wondering why all those generals stayed seated during President Donald Trumps recent State of the Union address. It turns out at least one of them was trying to avoid notice. Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau and a 38-year veteran of military service, had a wardrobe malfunction during Trumps address: The rack carrying all of his ribbons for a four-starred career was upside down on his blue Air Force tunic. Its a detail thats difficult for even the eagle-eyed to notice and something that would fly over most civilian heads. Lengyel wasnt called out by his commander in chief for the faux pas. Instead, he pleaded guilty to the uniform crime on Twitter. Whats wrong with this picture? Lengyel wrote. Ill give you a hint...Its why they keep putting eraser on pencils. If the Lengyel name rings a bell, you may be thinking of the generals brother Greg, who served as the Air Force Academys commandant on a two-year-tour that ended in 2014. Joseph Lengyel has led the Guard since 2016 and he has a ribbon rack that many would envy. It is led with the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Americas highest award for actions not tied to combat. Hes also got a Bronze Star Medal, and several baubles tied to his skill at the controls of the F-16 fighter, including the Air Forces Aerial Achievement Medal. Ribbons are given precedence in their wear. Put simply, the ones on top are the biggest and those that are not as big of a deal go lower. But for Trumps speech, Lengyel got it upside down and backwards. Instead of skulking away, the general used his mistake as a training opportunity. Let this be a lesson and dont let it happen to you! he wrote. Who knows, the way the military is changing its uniforms lately, Lengyel could soon be right in style. The newest wardrobe switch was on display during the Super Bowl this month when soldiers showed off the new duds that look like they came straight from World War II. The new uniform will eventually replace the dark- blue Army Service Uniform. That uniform replaced a green uniform that was used for nearly 60 years. The new Army uniform, modeled on the pinks and greens worn by the Greatest Generation, will be issued to new troops next year. While the Army is proud of the new uniform, it is not fond of the World War II-era title. Pink is not in fashion. The Army Greens will be fielded to Soldiers reporting to their first units as early as the summer of 2020, the Army said on its website. The mandatory wear date for all Soldiers will be 2028. Contact Tom Roeder: 636-0240 Twitter: @xroederx Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday disparaged the threat of Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa to file suits against him and the government following her indictment and arrest last week over a cyber libel case filed by a businessman. Guevarra said Ressas threat to hold the government accountable for her ordeal will not hold water, saying it will only be dismissed outright by any competent body. We are performing our duties to prosecute anyone who breaks the law. We are confident that her allegations will not prosper because we have not violated any law. So just go ahead and bring it on, Guevarra said, when asked for comment on Ressas threat. The Justice Secretary debunked the insinuation of Ressa that the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation have engaged in selective justice and weaponization of the law in indicting and arresting her upon the order of a Manila City court. Harassment and persecution are not in my vocabulary, Guevarra pointed out. According to him, the filing of cyber libel case against Ressa and her arrest were not done to harass or target critics of the Duterte administration or to threaten the constitutional freedom of the press, reiterating that it is an ordinary criminal case now up to the trial court to resolve. Press freedom is not absolute. The rights of other citizens deserve equal protection, he said. The DOJ chief added that Ressa is old enough to know whats good for her and should just face the case before the court without the theatrics.What the government has done is to actually forge us in fire. It made me, as the CEO and a journalist, to decide early on that we would live according to our standards and ethics, that we will hold government accountable even if its bad for business, Ressa said last Friday. Ressa was arrested last Feb.13 by NBI agents upon order issued by Manila regional trial court branch 46 over the cyber libel case filed by the DOJ upon complaint of businessman Wilfredo Keng. She spent the night at the NBI headquarters in Manila after failure to post bail in the evening. But she was released the following day, Feb.14, after posting P100,000 bail before the court. The DOJ found probable cause in the complaint filed by the NBI and Keng for violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act in March last year. `Published in May 2012, the article written by Santos cited an intelligence report, saying Keng had been under surveillance for his alleged involvement in human trafficking and drug smuggling. Ressa questioned her indictment, saying the article was not covered by RA 10175 that was enacted in Sept. 2012 and that the case should have been dismissed due to one-year prescription period on libel cases. However, the DOJ stressed that the updated version of the article, which was posted by Rappler on Feb. 19, 2014, was covered by the law and that the one-year prescription period on libel cases does not apply to cyber libel case, which has 12 years of prescription period. Guevarra also already explained that Ressa could have prevented her arrest if she wanted to because she could post bail anytime even before the issuance of the arrest warrant by the court. He said her lawyers were certainly aware of this. Colorado Springs, CO (80903) Today Scattered thunderstorms this morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. High 74F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Thunderstorms likely. Low 54F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%. rivian R1T pickup truck Adam Jones, Global Auto Analyst at Morgan Stanley, warned that the production of an electric vehicle by either Tesla or Rivian could be bad news for traditional car makers in Detroit. Why? This wildly profitable segment of the vehicle industry is one that auto companies dont mess around with. Amazon Plunks Down Major Cash to Invest in Tesla Competitor Rivian As CCN reported, Amazon led a $700 million funding round in Tesla rival Rivian Automotive LLC. According to the reports, while GM wasnt included in the round as previously speculated, analysts expect the automaker to inject funds into Rivian in the future. Speaking on the funding round, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe remarked: Read the full story on CCN.com. Soon the Himalayas will be bare rock (AP) The icy peaks of the Himalayas are under threat from climate change caused by human action and two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers could melt. If global warming continues, the melt would disrupt water supplies for billions of people, as the mountains transform into bare rock by 2100. The region is known as the worlds Third Pole, and is home to Everest and K2. Even if the world succeeds in cutting carbon emissions, a third of the glaciers will still melt, rising to two-thirds if we continue as we are. Even if Paris climate agreement goals are met, scientists say the Himalayas are set to lose more than 30 percent of their glaciers by 2100. Floods from the melting glacial ice could also disrupt crops along rivers such as the Ganges and the Indus, the researchers warn. MORE: Son charged with murder of kind mum found dead in her own home MORE: Just one in 450 fly-tipping cases in England lead to a prosecution Philippus Wester, a scientist with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said, This is the climate crisis you havent heard of. Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks to bare rocks in a little less than a century. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Now that he has declared a national emergency, all that stands between President Donald Trump and the money he wants to pay for his promised border wall is the American judiciary. And the Constitution. And the attorneys general of California, Nevada, New Mexico and New York. And a vast array of land owners and local governments. Oh, and Congress. Opponents have lined up to block the presidents declaration of an emergency to get funds for the wall that lawmakers have refused to give him and already has led to a damaging government shutdown that lasted more than a month. Should a court consider the merits of the presidents decision to invoke his presidential powers, Trump may not like the finding there is little evidence of a crisis at the border that would be fixed by a multibillion-dollar barricade. Yet Trump appears convinced that using his executive powers will allow him to reshuffle the budget to pay for the barrier after Congress didnt give him the funds he wanted. The president signed the declaration Friday, as well as signing the latest spending bill to prevent another government shutdown. The current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency, Trump said in the proclamation. The southern border is a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics. The decision is fraught with risk, according to Sam Berger, a vice president for the Center for American Progress. By Trumps logic, hes allowed to turn the military into a private construction company to further his anti-immigration agenda and campaign promises, Berger said. Its hard to imagine a more clearly illegal action by the president than this, Berger said. He asked for the funds and didnt get them. At a press conference in Washington Friday, Trump said he was declaring the national emergency in part because he wants to build the wall sooner rather than later. Story continues I want to do it faster, Trump said. I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didnt need to do this. Plaintiffs could support challenges to the presidents declaration by using these very words against Trump as a sign there is no immediate emergency requiring circumvention of Congress, said Michael McConnell, director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School. His statement doesnt help him and may hurt him, McConnell said. But there are also more objective factors to determine there is no emergency, like the fact that not much has changed in the last 20 years. The presidents declaration may trigger a slew of litigation in federal courts across the country, including the following challenges: Congress could sue, asserting its constitutional control over appropriations. Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has already called Trumps maneuver an end run around lawmakers power of the purse. Local governments, along with landowners adjacent to the planned U.S.-Mexico border wall, could also sue over the seizure of their land. El Paso County in Texas, where Trump hosted a rally on Feb. 10 to mobilize support for the wall, is already preparing such a complaint, according to the Protect Democracy Project. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has vowed to sue if Trump uses his emergency powers for the wall; the AGs of Nevada and New Mexico have made similar statements. If Trump plans to pay for construction by reallocating military funds, individuals or businesses who lose funding as a result of that decision could also sue.Central to the arguments against the emergency declaration will be the separation-of-powers doctrine that affords Congress the right to allocate or not allocate money for certain discretionary programs. To defend his decision, Trump and his attorneys will have to unearth a statutory guideline that allows him to commandeer billions of dollars in taxpayer funding for his own project, said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty & National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. Or theyll have to prove the president has independent powers to assume such authority in an emergency. There are a lot of laws that make him very powerful, Goitein said. There are definitely some very compelling arguments that none of the emergency powers available to him allow what he wants to do here. Trumps gambit may succeed, said Washington lobbyist Alex Vogel, who once served as general counsel to former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Vogel predicted the president will likely get his way, citing Trumps repeated efforts to refine his executive orders controlling immigration from Middle Eastern and north African nations, widely derided by opponents as a Muslim ban, after courts blocked his initial attempts. The truth is, no one knows exactly where the boundaries are, Vogel said. In addition to court challenges, Trumps declaration is likely to be fought in the legislature, where it can be overridden by a two-thirds majority. Thats unlikely with a Republican majority in the Senate and without a Democratic supermajority in the House. Solid Ground Trumps exercise of the power in a matter of national security is on much more solid ground than President Barack Obamas 2009 emergency to deal with swine flu, said John Eastmen, a constitutional law professor at Chapman University and former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Those who claim that Trump is unconstitutionally bypassing Congress fail to appreciate that he is acting in full accord with powers Congress has previously delegated to the president powers that every president since Carter has utilized, Eastmen said. There arent many legal determinations on the presidents powers under the National Emergencies Act. One such case is a Korean War-era lawsuit dubbed the steel-seizure case, which addressed President Harry Trumans lack of authority to seize private property without the support of Congress. In 1952, the Supreme Court determined that the president acts with his greatest authority when working in concert with Congress, and at his lowest when in conflict with Congresss expressed wishes. That opinion has clear implications in the probable conflict ahead. Which Data? Legal arguments aside, the statistics Trump has cited to justify an emergency declaration include Immigration and Customs Enforcements arrests of hundreds of thousands of aliens with criminal records over the past two years. ICE enforces immigration law within the U.S., not on the borders. Its numbers include people convicted of violent offenses, but also those convicted of nonviolent crimes including illegal entry or re-entry to the country. Trump also calls the southern border a pipeline for vast quantities of illegal drugs, suggesting a wall would stem the flow. In fact, most illegal drugs are smuggled into the country through ports of entry, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency and Department of Homeland Security. Meantime, border crossings are a fraction of what they were some 20 years ago. Crime rates have fallen, and statistical evidence demonstrates that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born population. Todays national emergency declaration so soon after Congress reached agreement on border security makes clear that the president is trying to create a crisis, not solve one, said Beth Werlin, executive director of the American Immigration Council. The most pressing immigration issue we confront at the border is one that the president himself has manufactured by unlawfully turning away asylum seekers and cruelly separating parents from their children. As headwinds spanning trade wars to slowing global growth buffet the U.S. economy, talk of a possible recession is picking up, leaving investors sifting through reams of data for clues. While almost all economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect growth to stay positive this year which would crown the current expansion the longest on record, at more than 10 years the risk of a recession is seen at a six-year high. In fact, more than three-quarters of corporate chief financial officers expect one by the end of 2020. Meanwhile, its getting harder to avoid prominent voices talking about the possibility of a contraction these days, such as Nobel laureates Paul Krugman and Robert Shiller. 1. Yield Curve This may be the most closely-watched market signal of a downturn. The New York Fed has a recession-probability tracker based on the average monthly spread between yields on three-month and 10-year Treasuries. The latest reading showed the chance of a recession at 23.6 percent for the 12 months through next January, the highest since the reading for the year through July 2008. Readings below 50 percent arent necessarily safe, either: the index hasnt topped that level since the early 1980s, even though there have since been three recessions. 2. Consumer and Business Sentiment Billionaire investor Jeffrey Gundlach said last month that the widening gap between consumer sentiment on the current situation and expectations is the most recessionary signal at present. Meanwhile, a measure of small-business sentiment has lost the ground gained since President Donald Trumps election. Its clear that confidence measures sink during downturns, though the extent to which such surveys can actually predict a recession is debatable. 3. Manufacturing Surveys The same goes for monthly surveys of manufacturers and other companies conducted by the Institute for Supply Management and five Federal Reserve banks. These tend to be volatile from month to month, though all the Fed factory gauges fell together in December for the first time since May 2016 and the ISMs national index hit a two-year low (it recovered some ground in January). Further sustained weakness across the gauges would indicate the sector is slumping, though it doesnt necessarily mean the entire economy is in trouble. Story continues 4. Global Growth With slowing global growth pushing the Fed to pause on interest-rate hikes, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. researchers have come up with a handy way to figure how much a world slowdown affects the U.S. economy. They say that for every 1 percentage-point decline in growth outside the U.S., American expansion is reduced by about half a point. The economists currently figure a 14 percent chance of a U.S. recession over the next year; that rises to 46 percent with a 3 percentage-point decline in global growth, according to a report Wednesday. 5. Hard Data Ultimately, any evidence of a recession will come in principal indicators of the U.S. economy, including employment, incomes and hours worked; business sales; and of course, gross domestic product. Those are some of the figures reviewed by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the arbiter of the start and end dates of U.S. recessions. So far, those numbers arent close to flashing red, but when they do, it will probably be too late for any recession predictions. The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition challenging the legality of the decision of the Philippine Postal Corporation to print and sell more than 1.2 million postage stamps to commemorate the 100th founding anniversary of Iglesia ni Cristo in 2014. In a 26-page en banc decision authored by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, the SC upheld the July 24, 2015 decision and the resolution dated March 8, 2016 of the Court of Appeals, which declared Philposts use of public funds to print the commemorative stamps did not violate Section 29 (2) Article VI of the Constitution which bars the use of public funds to support a religious sect. The printing of the INC commemorative stamp is no different. It is simply an acknowledgment of INCs existence for a hundred years. It does not necessarily equate to the State sponsoring the INC, the SC ruled. The high court resolved the case by applying its policy of benevolent neutrality in resolving disputes between the State and the Church. Citing Estrada vs. Escritor case, the Court ruled that benevolent neutrality recognizes the religious nature of the Filipino people and the elevating influence of religion in society; at the same time, it acknowledges that government must pursue its secular goals. The policy gives room for accommodation of religious exercises as required under the Constitution, it said. Because of this, the SC said it has adopted a stance of benevolent neutrality in determining the whether there has been a violation of the provision on separation of the Church and the State. Rightfully so, for this incorporates the Constitutional principle of separation of the Church and the State while recognizing the peoples right to express their belief or non-belief of a Supreme Being, the SC held. The high court did not give weight to the argument of petitioner Renato Peralta that the printing and issuance of the INC commemorative stamp involved disbursement of public funds and tantamount to sponsorship of a religious activities, thus, violating the principle of separation of powers between the State and the Church and the non-establishment of religion clause. Peralta, who filed the suit in his capacity as taxpayer, argued that printing and issuance of INC commemorative stamps constitute free advertisement for the INC at the expense of taxpayers money. He noted that PhilPost printed a total of 1.2 million stamps although the memorandum of agreement between INC and PhilPost covered only 50,000 pieces.However, the SC held that the printing of the INC commemorative stamp did not amount to violation of the non-establishment or religion clause. The tribunal pointed out that the costs for the printing and issuance of the 50,000 stamps were all paid for by INC. Any perceived use of government property, machines or otherwise, is de minimis (about minimal things) and certainly do not amount to a sponsorship of a specific religion, the SC stressed. The SC also said it sees no violation of the Constitutional prohibition on the establishment of religion with regard to the remaining 1,150 pieces of commemorative stamps printed and distributed by Philpost. It noted that Philpost has also issued stamps for Catholic Church, such as those featuring heritage churches, International Eucharistic Congress and Pope Francis. It also printed in the past stamps celebrating 300 years of Islam. Based on the foregoing, this Court is not convinced that Philpost has actually used its resources to endorse, nor encourage Filipinos to join INC or observe the latters doctrines. On the contrary, this Court agrees with the respondents that the printing of the INC commemorative stamp was endeavored merely as part of PhilPosts ordinary business, the Court declared. The Court also said there was no basis on Peraltas claim that there was illegal disbursement of funds under Section 29 (2) of Article VI of the Constitution. The tribunal stressed that the records do not show that the State has been using the resources and manpower of Philpost for INCs advantage. On the contrary, the stamps printed and issued by PhilPost seen through its website, feature various entities and organizations, other than religious sects, it noted. Besides, the SC said it sees no religious overtones surrounding the commemorative stamps considering that the design was merely an acknowledgment of the historical and cultural contribution of INC to the Philippine society." A government shutdown that lasted 35 days did not get U.S. President Donald Trump the $5.7 billion he wants for a wall on the Mexico border. In the wake of a deal that re-opened the government temporarily, White House aides said that if Democrats wouldnt support a wall Trump might bypass Congress entirely by declaring a national emergency. When congressional negotiators reached a compromise longer-term deal that also didnt give him the wall money he wanted, Trump said that he would sign the bill but accompany it with an emergency declaration, which he did on Friday. Its an idea thats drawn opposition from some Republicans as well as Democrats. 1. What exactly is a national emergency? Its a declaration by the president that gives him special, temporary power to deal with a crisis. In the past, most such invocations have been related to foreign policy, like prosecuting a war or responding to a global trade threat. International concerns explain most of the 28 currently active national emergencies. On a few occasions, however, presidents have used emergency declarations to further their domestic policy goals. 2. How would an emergency declaration help Trump? In theory, it would let him redirect federal money allocated for other purposes and use it to at least get construction started on the wall he wants to build on the border with Mexico. Under the law governing the Pentagon, for instance, if the president declares a national emergency, the defense secretary is allowed to redirect money from military construction funds for projects necessary to support the deployment of U.S. armed forces. Or the defense secretary could terminate or defer the construction of Army civil works projects and apply those funds to authorized civil works, military construction, and civil defense projects that are essential to the national defense. Another option thats been discussed: shifting funds from a disaster-spending bill passed by Congress that includes $13.9 billion in not-yet-spent money. Story continues 3. Would that free up enough money to build the wall? The presidents request for $5.7 billion in wall funding represents more than half of the $10.3 billion appropriated for military construction this year and would mean sidelining politically popular projects. That could particularly hit military families, with the government slated to spend $1.6 billion of that budget on family housing, $352 million for medical facilities, and $267 million on educational facilities. 4. Does this really qualify as an emergency? Theres a case to be made that its entirely up to the president to decide whether it does or not. Emergencies have been declared during crises large (the Civil War, the Great Depression, the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks) and small (remember the 1970 postal strike?). In 1976, Congress adopted a law giving the president broad authority to declare a national emergency. But the law, passed as part of a sweeping set of legislation designed to restrain presidential powers after the Watergate scandal, also demands that the president invoke specific statutory authority for emergency actions. 5. Would an emergency declaration be challenged? Count on it. Congressional Democrats have already said they would mount a court challenge to any use of emergency authority. The Congressional Research Service, in a Jan. 10 report, said invoking a national emergency for this purpose would raise a variety of novel legal issues, including whether Trump is addressing a problem that really requires use of the armed forces and whether the planned wall would really support such use of the armed forces. During the initial shutdown, Trump said both that he has the absolute right to do it, but acknowledged that the final decision would likely be up to the Supreme Court. 6. Whats happened in previous fights? Courts have limited the presidents emergency powers before, including in a 1952 Supreme Court decision in which the high court said President Harry Truman could not use an emergency declaration to seize steel factories to ensure production during the Korean War. But since laws governing emergency authority have changed, some experts say it would be difficult to predict how the case would be viewed by the current Supreme Court, in which Republican-appointed justices hold the majority. Electric truck start-up and potential Tesla (TSLA) rival Rivian announced a $700 million investment round led by Amazon (AMZN) on Friday. The announcement comes less than three months after Rivian revealed its first two products, an all-electric pickup and SUV that, some analysts have said, could pose a direct challenge to both established truck manufacturers like General Motors (GM) and Ford (F), as well as upstart Tesla which is developing its own battery-electric pickup. The Friday morning announcement comes just days after reports began circulating that GM would join Amazon in the new round of financing. But a well-placed source involved in the negotiations told CNBC that "you don't find all the presents under the Christmas tree," suggesting that another development is in the works, one that could come at or before the New York Auto Show in April where Rivian is scheduled to hold a news conference. "This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility," said RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO. "Beyond simply eliminating compromises that exist around performance, capability and efficiency, we are working to drive innovation across the entire customer experience. Delivering on this vision requires the right partners, and we are excited to have Amazon with us on our journey to create products, technology and experiences that reset expectations of what is possible." The announcement did not detail how much Amazon specifically will invest in Rivian. For the ecommerce giant, the move follows barely a week after it joined in with venture capital firm Sequoia, as well as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Shell Ventures and others, to take a stake in Aurora . That deal put a roughly $2.5 billion valuation on Aurora, an autonomous vehicle technology start-up run by Waymo (GOOGL) and Tesla alumni. Exactly why Amazon would want to make such moves remains hazy, though it follows steps taken by other high-tech firms, such as Alphabet and Apple to explore opportunities in electrified and autonomous mobility. Story continues Amazon, in particular, has been looking for ways to change up its delivery methods which currently rely on traditional partners such as the USPS and UPS. Some industry analysts have speculated that Amazon could be interested in Rivian's platform for developing vehicles for its massive global logistics needs. "We're inspired by Rivian's vision for the future of electric transportation," said Jeff Wilke, Amazon's worldwide consumer CEO. "RJ has built an impressive organization, with a product portfolio and technology to match. We're thrilled to invest in such an innovative company." The round included investments from Rivian's existing shareholders. The start-up will remain an independent company. Rivian currently has more than 750 employees located in several locations, including Plymouth, Michigan; San Jose and Irvine, California; Normal, Illinois; and Surrey, England. The fact that GM was not included in Friday morning's announcement does not mean the Detroit automaker won't subsequently take a stake in Rivian. GM issued a terse release earlier this week that notably sidestepped the question, only stating that "We admire Rivian's contribution to a future of zero-emissions and an all-electric future." Until recently, few expected to see a competitive, battery-powered electric pickup because of the hefty demands owners place on those vehicles. But views have begun to shift as Tesla prepares to bring a truck to market and as analysts and potential buyers have gotten a look at the R1T pickup that Rivian unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November along with the R1S sport-utility vehicle. Rivian plans to launch its R1T pickup truck and R1S sport utility in the U.S. in 2020, and begin introducing them overseas in 2021. The company has modeled both vehicles on what it calls a "skateboard" platform, which it says it flexible enough to accommodate several different vehicle body styles. Both, at least initially, will feature 180 kilowatt-hour battery packs, almost twice the size of the largest pack currently offered by Tesla. That will be more than enough to deliver a range of 400 miles under optimal conditions, according to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. Performance will rival a Tesla Model X SUV with Ludicrous Mode, Scaringe says, claiming the two trucks will hit 60 mph in 3 seconds and 100 mph in less than 7 seconds, with a top speed of 125 mph. They will, meanwhile, be able to tow up to 11,000 pounds. Rivian had not hidden its search for funding. While development of the two battery trucks was moving along at a fast pace, Rivian had also acquired the old Mitsubishi assembly plant in Normal, Illinois. But it was not clear whether the company had the money or the expertise to actually produce the two vehicles on its own. While a source broadly hinted that more financing news could be in the works, there is also a possibility that Rivian may be lining up help on the manufacturing side. Trucks and SUVs are also increasingly more popular with U.S. consumers than cars, and customers seem willing to pay more for them, meaning more profits for automakers. The business case for an electric pickup or SUV could be stronger than one for a sedan, given how much money companies have had to sink into electric batteries and motors and how difficult it has been for companies to make money on electric cars. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a note this week that a successful electric pickup from an upstart such as Rivian or Tesla could pose a serious threat to Detroit automakers , who depend heavily on sales of truck-based vehicles. In a significant move, Ford Motor Co. announced this month that it is developing an electric pickup of its own. Meanwhile, Duncan Aldred, the general manager of the GMC brand at General Motors, has told CNBC it is "considering" a similar move. While he declined to offer details, Aldred pointed to comments made by GM CEO Mary Barra last March that the automaker is on a "path to an all-electric future." It currently offers a single, long-range all-electric model, the Chevrolet Bolt EV, but plans to start rolling out as many as two dozen others, starting with a Cadillac crossover, in 2021. - By Mayank Marwah Deere and Co. (DE) came out with its first-quarter financial results on Feb. 15 before market opened. The company's earnings were weaker than what was forecasted owing to an "unsettled" situation in key markets. In fact, higher raw material and logistics costs as well as rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China weighed on the company's first-quarter earnings. "These latter issues have weighed on market sentiment and caused farmers to become more cautious about making major purchases," said CEO Sam Allen. Key metrics The Illinois-based company reported earnings per share of $1.54 in the first quarter, which spiked 17.55% year-on-year but fell shy of the Street consensus of $1.77. Revenue for the same period amounted to $6.941 billion vs. $6.828 expected. At the end of the first quarter, the company's balance of cash and cash equivalents stood at $3.6 billion. Cash used in operations was $1.7 billion in the reported quarter. Long-term borrowing was roughly $28 billion at the end of the quarter. Segment performance Sales in the Agriculture & Turf sector inched up 10% year-over-year to $4.7 billion, thanks to a rise in the shipment volume and price realization that was only partially offset by the unfavorable currency-translation impact and higher warranty-related expenses. Operating profit in the segment plunged 10% to $348 million because of mounting production costs and high research and development expenses. In the Construction & Forestry division, sales came to $2.26 billion in the first quarter, up 31% from the prior-year's quarter. This sales growth was attributable to the Wirten acquisition, high shipment volume and positive price realization, which was only partly counterbalanced by unfavorable currency rates. Operating profit was $229 million thanks to net positive price realization. Story continues The Financial Services segment saw revenue growth of 10% in the reported quarter to $855 million. By contrast, operating profit declined 12% from the prior-year's first quarter to $192 million. Impact of trade war The company's inventory rose approximately $1.3 billion in the first quarter as compared to the year-ago quarter primarily due to the high trade tensions with China. The rising inventory level may hamper the company's 2019 profit projections if the trade quarrel between the U.S. and China is not settled. China purchased roughly $12 billion of U.S. soy in 2017. However, due to President Trump's tariffs, it shifted its purchase to Brazil in 2018. While China did return to buying U.S. soy of late, purchase volumes have been too small to make up for the lost sales. Guidance The tractor manufacturer said its 2019 net income is projected to be $3.6 billion with a 7% annual growth in euipment sales. For fiscal 2019, the company sees net sales growing by 7%. The Wirten acquisition would make up 1% of the estimated net sales of 2019. Disclosure: I do not hold any position in the stock mentioned. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Investing.com - Oil traders will continue to monitor global crude supplies and the outlook for energy demand in the week ahead amid indications that OPEC-led output cuts have helped tighten an oversupplied market. Market players will also be keeping abreast of the next round of trade talks between the U.S. and China in Washington this week to see if any more news materializes ahead of a March 1 deadline on new tariffs. The U.S. and China are the worlds two largest oil consuming nations. Hopes that the two sides would hammer out an agreement resolving their protracted trade war helped to ease worries about energy demand. Futures rallied for the fourth straight day on Friday to reach their best levels of the year. International Brent crude oil futures jumped $1.68, or 2.6%, to settle at $66.25 a barrel by close of trade. It earlier rose to its strongest level since Nov. 20 at $66.39. For the week, Brent prices saw a gain of about 6.6%, its best weekly performance since 2019 began. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ended Friday's session up $1.18, or 2.1%, at $55.59 a barrel. WTI earlier rose to a three-month high of $55.87. The U.S. benchmark rose about 5.4% on the week. After ending 2018 in freefall, oil prices have rallied approximately 23% to start the year, boosted by efforts by global producers to cut supply. In December, OPEC and a group of 10 producers outside the cartel, led by Russia, agreed to collectively cut production by a total of 1.2 million barrels per day during the first six months of 2019. Top exporter and OPEC's de-facto leader Saudi Arabia recently pledged to cut even more production than the deal called for. The cuts come alongside involuntary production curbs as a result of U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan and Iranian crude, along with curtailed Libyan output because of civil unrest. "Looking ahead, the prognosis for Venezuela and Iran remains skewed to the downside. As such, they should continue to act as important pillars of price support," said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM. Story continues Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of the main events likely to affect the oil market. Monday, Feb. 18 There will be no floor trading on the Nymex because of Washington's Birthday, more widely known as Presidents Day. All electronic transactions will be booked with Tuesday's trades for settlement. Wednesday, Feb. 20 The American Petroleum Institute is to publish its weekly update on U.S. oil supplies. The data comes out one day later than usual due to Monday's holiday. Thursday, Feb. 21 The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil stockpiles. Friday, Feb. 22 {{0|Baker Hughes}} will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count. -- Reuters contributed to this report Related Articles Exclusive: Nigeria hits oil majors with billions in back taxes Exclusive: China's Dalian port bans Australian coal imports, sets 2019 quota - source Gold Future Price Dips as Risk Appetite Returns on Renewed Trade Deal Hopes A helmet with a logo of Vale SA is seen in a collapsed tailings dam owned by the company, in Brumadinho, Brazil February 13, 2019. REUTERS/Washington Alves By Eduardo Simoes and Marta Nogueira SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian police arrested eight employees of mining firm Vale SA on Friday, accused by state prosecutors of covering up weaknesses at a dam that collapsed and likely killed more than 300 people. Police also executed 14 search warrants as part of the probe of the country's deadliest mining disaster, prosecutors in the mining state of Minas Gerais said. The arrests and search warrants targeted employees of Vale as well as German auditing firm TUV SUD, which had certified the dam as stable. The arrests deepened a festering crisis for Vale, the world's largest iron ore mining company, whose share price has tumbled 18 percent since the disaster and subsequent civil and criminal probes. The dam in the town of Brumadinho, which contained tailings, the mud-like byproducts of mining, burst on Jan. 25, killing at least 166 people. Almost 200 more are still missing. "The eight Vale employees .. had full knowledge of the situation of instability in the dam and each one of them, as part of their job, also had the power and ability to adopt measures for either stabilizing the structure or evacuating areas at risk," a judge in Minas Gerais wrote in an arrest warrant, issued in response to a petition from the state prosecutor's office. Vale said in a securities filing it was cooperating with the investigation. The latest warrants followed the arrest last month of five Vale and TUV SUD employees, who were released by a higher court ruling on Feb. 5. The most senior Vale employees arrested on Friday were Joaquim Toledo, Vale executive director of geotechnical operations, who led the team given the task of monitoring the dam's stability, and Alexandre Campanha, Vale executive corporate director of geotechnicals. No top Vale executives have been arrested. Prosecutors alleged that Campanha pressured Makoto Namba, a TUV SUD engineer who was arrested and later released, "to sign a declaration that the dam was stable, or risk losing the contract." Story continues Minas Gerais prosecutors also sought the arrests of four TUV SUD employees, but the judge denied the request. The prosecutors alleged "the four employees of TUV SUD participated in a scheme, sponsored by Vale, to make up technical numbers, and falsely pledge the stability of the dam, which allowed for the situation of risk to be perpetuated." Neither Campanha nor Toledo could be reached immediately for comment. TUV SUD declined to comment. Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said on Thursday, in response to questions from lawmakers, that the company's safety procedures had not worked. Reuters reported earlier this week that Vale had seen an internal report last year that the dam had a heightened risk of rupturing. Chief Financial Officer Luciano Siani said on Tuesday that Vale senior management were never shown the documents. (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo, and Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Mark Potter and Jeffrey Benkoe) Hong KongPhilip Morris International is preparing to introduce in the Philippines a cutting-edge technology for smokers using heated tobacco products that have fewer health risks, pending the creation of regulatory measures for these products. PMI Asia Ltd. director for regulatory strategy and engagement James Arnold said that while some markets had no regulation yet on these new tobacco products, consumers in these countries were ready to embrace the new technology. What we are doing is for those people who cannot and wont quit smoking. Based on a study, there are millions of Filipinos who are still smoking and there more than a billion smokers across the world. Twenty years after, there will still be a billion smokers globally. What do we want to do with them? At least provide them with better alternatives, he said. Iqos, PMIs first advanced heated tobacco product, is available in limited quantity in the Philippines. Despite the absence of laws for these products, a few people were using the product acquired from other countries or from the black market in Manila. Iqos has a growing following in the Philippines despite the lack of regulatory measures that should be in place. What is the most important here is the minimum age law. We dont want children dipping their hands into something that should be regulated, Arnold said. Quality and safety standards and health warning labels, though not as graphic as those seen on conventional or combustion cigarette packs, are also critical. PMI said the governments of different markets, including the Philippines, should open communication focused on adult smokers. Another measure that will help improve the regulatory scheme is the scientific substantiation of the product and regular monitoring and surveillance.Products that dont burn should be regulated differently than cigarettes. This is totally a different category that should be regulated differently than cigarettes, although the same principles will apply, Arnold said. Within the PMI Science Hub in Hong Kong, four new smoking platforms were being developed, the most advanced of which is Iqos. Iqos is an electronic cigarette gadget that uses heat to create an aerosol that smokers can inhale for their nicotine fix without the carcinogenic factor of burning or combustion. It is sold in 40 countries worldwide. The Science Hub or Center in Hong Kong was the first formal and biggest research and development facility the company established with researches on smoking and cigarettes. The ongoing switch of smokers from conventional cigarettes to heated tobacco products resulted in a 3.1-percent increase in net revenues for PMI to $29.6 billion in 2018. The company said in an investor report that for 2019 to 2021, it was expecting at least 5 percent annual currency-neutral growth in terms of net revenue. We are in the cigarette business today and we anticipate to be in the cigarette business in the future. But that is not our ambition. Our ambition is to give smokers what they want, give them better alternatives. We dont take that ambition lightly. We are seriously in transforming ourselves so that we are quick to develop a wide range of products from a company that lasted 150 years. Were committed to helping create that spot in the future, said Arnold. * Pence visits Auschwitz, says determined to confront Iran * Pompeo meets Mogherini, avoid subject of Iran (Recasts with Pence's Iran comments) By Robin Emmott and Lesley Wroughton MUNICH/BRUSSELS, Feb 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism on Friday, maintaining his harsh rhetoric against Tehran just a day he attacked European powers for trying to undermine U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. After visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Pence said the Nazi death camp had made him more determined to confront Tehran, saying it was "breathing out murderous threats, with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe." Iran's ancient Jewish community has slumped to an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 from 85,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but is believed to be the biggest in the Middle East outside Israel. Pence, who said he was deeply moved by his Auschwitz visit, cited Iran's stated desire to destroy Israel as justification for singling out the country, rather than focusing on anti-Semitism across the Middle East. Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in January Iran's strategy was to wipe "the Zionist regime" (Israel) off the political map, Iran's state TV reported. "For me it simply strengthens my resolve ... to stand strong against Iran," Pence told reporters on his Air Force Two plane before arriving in Munich. The United States is seeking to isolate Tehran and reimposed economic sanctions last year after pulling out of the landmark 2015 Iran accord with world powers that prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. However, the tougher stance comes as the European Union is trying to keep the nuclear deal alive and has developed a mechanism to open a channel to continue to trade with Iran, bringing sharp criticism of Brussels from Pence on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the EU's top diplomat discussed global conflicts but largely avoided the issue of Iran on Friday. Story continues Pompeo's meeting with Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, was scheduled before Pence's rebuke of European powers, during a Middle East peace conference in Warsaw on Thursday. Mogherini missed the Warsaw conference, citing a scheduling conflict at NATO. Mogherini shook off a question seeking her reaction to Pence's Thursday speech. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said the vice president's remarks were not raised during the hour-long meeting, which he said was friendly and constructive. They also did not talk about the Iran nuclear deal, although they did discuss Iran's "destabilising activities and the need to counter them," he said. A spokeswoman for Mogherini said the talks with Pompeo had focused on Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, the Korean peninsula, Ukraine and the Western Balkans. Pence's unusually tough words on Thursday for allies Germany, France and Britain reflect Washington's strategy of isolating Iran, and are likely to further strain transatlantic relations. In a speech on Friday evening in Munich with European and U.S. officials, lawmakers and diplomats, Pence said: I bring you greetings from the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump. He paused for applause. The room was silent for a very long moment. ISOLATING IRAN Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran accepted curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions. On Thursday, speaking at NATO before Pence's comments, Mogherini said upholding the deal was vital to European security because it prevented Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. European countries say they share U.S. concerns about Iran's involvement in wars in Yemen and Syria but that withdrawing from the nuclear deal was a mistake. They 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. France, Germany and Britain have agreed on a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert U.S. sanctions. That will likely take months to open, however, and is expected to be used only for smaller trade such as humanitarian products or food. Mogherini and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday defended the nuclear accord with Iran at the Munich Security Conference despite Washington's repeated attacks against the bloc for keeping to the deal. France's Foreign Minister questioned Washington's policy in northeastern Syria saying it contradicted its tough stance on Tehran because a U.S. withdrawal would only reinforce Iran. "We hate what Iran is doing in Syria. We hate what Hezbollah is doing in Lebanon. We hate what Iran is doing with the Houthis in Yemen and militias elsewhere. We hate what they have been doing in Europe and we're extremely preoccupied with its ballistic missile programme," said a European official. "We're very lucid and extremely vigilant on all that, but Iran has kept its side of the nuclear deal and isn't building a nuclear weapon and that is vital to all our security interests." (Additional reporting by John Irish in Munich and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Toby Chopra) The use of fake news stories for political disinformation has become a major concern for governments around the world in the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded Russia used false news reports, spread through social media, to try to sway voters. Writing these stories still needed someone to sit behind a keyboard. Now OpenAI, a non-profit artificial intelligence research group in San Francisco, has unveiled a machine learning algorithm that can generate coherent text, including fake news articles, after being given just a small sample to build on. The algorithm can be tuned to imitate the writing style of the sample text. Heres an example of the system at work that OpenAI provided. The system was only given the first two sentences, which were written by a human: A train carriage containing controlled nuclear materials was stolen in Cincinnati today. Its whereabouts are unknown. And this is the rest of the news article that the AI wrote, with no human guidance: The incident occurred on the downtown train line, which runs from Covington and Ashland stations. In an email to Ohio news outlets, the U.S. Department of Energy said it is working with the Federal Railroad Administration to find the thief. The theft of this nuclear material will have significant negative consequences on public and environmental health, our workforce and the economy of our nation, said Tom Hicks, the U.S. Energy Secretary, in a statement. Our top priority is to secure the theft and ensure it doesnt happen again. The stolen material was taken from the University of Cincinnatis Research Triangle Park nuclear research site, according to a news release from Department officials. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not immediately release any information. According to the release, the U.S. Department of Energys Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Security is leading that teams investigation. The safety of people, the environment and the nations nuclear stockpile is our highest priority, Hicks said. We will get to the bottom of this and make no excuses. Because of its potential to be misused for creating disinformation, OpenAI said it had chosen not to make the most powerful versions of its algorithm available for public use nor was it publishing the source code and training data used to create the software. LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - U.S. independent energy producer Anadarko has notched up another long-term commitment to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its proposed Mozambique terminal, moving closer to approving the multi-billion dollar project. Anadarko and Exxon Mobil are expected to sanction two separate but neighbouring LNG projects in Mozambique this year after finding giant offshore gas deposits, turning the African nation into a major global gas exporter. The company said on Friday it had struck a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with India's Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd for 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) for 15 years. The deal now gives Anadarko over 8.5 mtpa in offtake commitments from the project, a level it previously stated would allow it to take a final investment decision (FID). The initial capacity of the two-train terminal is 12.88 mtpa. Anadarko has said it would take the FID in the first half of this year and, in an annual report it released late on Thursday, it signalled that another long-term agreement would be announced before it sanctions the project. Other committed buyers, according to Anadarko, are Tokyo Gas and Britain's Centrica in a joint deal, Royal Dutch Shell, Chinese state energy firm CNOOC, Tohuku Electric and French utility EDF. In its annual report, Anadarko said it had SPAs of more then 7.5 mtpa and that "execution of SPAs representing 2.0 mtpa of additional contracted volume is anticipated prior to FID." With the Bharat deal adding another 1 mtpa, this indicates Anadarko expects to announce another SPA before approving the project. Indian state energy firms Bharat, ONGC and Oil India hold a 30 percent equity stake in the project either directly or through subsidiary joint ventures but this is the first offtake agreement with an Indian buyer. India is the world's fourth largest LNG importer after Japan, China and South Korea - a position it is expected to consolidate in years to come with growing imports. (Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Mark Potter) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amazon A senior vice president at Amazon.com invited Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to tour the companys facilities to dispel her claim that Amazon employees are subjected to dehumanizing conditions at work. The brouhaha erupted after Ocasio-Cortez flippantly tweeted that Amazon workers have to urinate in bottles and work while on food stamps in order to meet the companys brutal performance targets. alexandria ocasio-cortez bartender twitter Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was a bartender before being elected a congresswoman. (AOC/Twitter) Ocasio-Cortez: Amazon Dehumanizes Workers The newbie lawmaker then linked to a Newsweek article suggesting that Amazon is a heartless sweatshop that abuses its employees. Read the full story on CCN.com. Matto Mildenberger, University of California Santa Barbara explains how perceived experiences with climate change in the United States can be linked to political shifts in Congress, culture and society. He will demonstrate how partisan opinions about the prevalence and dangers of climate change in each of the 50 states and 435 congressional districts in the United States can change policymaking by Congress. Announcing the 2018 Partisan Climate Opinion Maps We are pleased to announce our new estimates of Democrats and Republicans who hold particular beliefs, attitudes, and policy preferences about global warming. These estimates cover both states and US congressional districts. The visualize the distribution of climate and energy beliefs among US Democrats and US Republicans. This new data release will be made available shortly at: http://climatecommunication. yale. edu/ visualizations-data/ About the Partisan Climate Opinion Maps Even as US partisan polarization shapes climate and energy beliefs and attitudes, substantial heterogeneity in climate opinions still exists among both Republicans and Democrats. To date, our understanding of this partisan variability has been limited to analysis of national or less commonly, state-level opinion poll subsamples. The Partisan Climate Opinion Maps provide new data about how Republican and Democratic climate and energy opinions vary across all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts. They reveal new spatial patterns with policy-relevant implications for the trajectory of US climate change policy reforms. These maps have now been updated through to 2018, and give new information about the state of partisan climate and energy beliefs in the current political context. The public opinion estimates were generated using a statistical model that combines nationally representative survey data gathered by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason Center for Climate Change Communication between 2008 and 2016 with voter registration, U.S. census, and geographic data. Party registration data is available for 32 states, and is imputed in the remaining states (i.e., in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin). ### Details about the methods can be found here: Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J.R., Howe, P.D., & Leiserowitz, A. (2017) "The spatial distribution of Republican and Democratic climate opinions at state and local scales," Climatic Change. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s10584-017-2103-0 . Additional information can be found in Howe, P., Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J.R., and Leiserowitz, A., "Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales in the USA," Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2583. Can I use the data? Yes. We encourage you to explore the maps and use the results in your own work. The data are available on our Data Download tab at the top of this page so that you can do your own analyses and create your own visualizations. If you publish an academic paper using these data please acknowledge the source by using the following citation: Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J.R., Howe, P.D., & Leiserowitz, A. (2017) "The spatial distribution of Republican and Democratic climate opinions at state and local scales," Climatic Change. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s10584-017-2103-0 . If you publish a news article, visualization or blog post using these data, please include a link back to the Partisan Climate Opinion Maps website. 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Whereas shopping previously involved heading out to bricks and mortar shops, purchases are now increasingly made online with just a click. Consumers have become familiar with buying things online, said Mr. Kengo Kurokawa, Founder and CEO of Asia Plus Inc, a market researcher based in Ho Chi Minh City. 2018 was yet another amazing year for leading e-commerce players in Vietnam. Five out of the top 10 most successful e-commerce platforms (based on average monthly web traffic) in Southeast Asia have a presence in the country, including Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, Thegioididong, and Sendo, according to the E-commerce Rewind Vietnam 2018 report released in December by price comparison website the iPrice Group.While Lazada and Shopee are international companies with operations in multiple markets, which makes their position on the list less of a surprise, the remaining threes inclusion is concrete evidence of the size and potential of the e-commerce business in Vietnam, the report noted. Even though Sendo, Tiki, and Thegioididong are only available for consumers within Vietnam, their traffic numbers are still impressive enough to put them within the regional top 10, surpassing even Chinas JD Group, which currently operates in both Thailand and Indonesia.The most remarkable, however, is Thegioididong, which is the only merchant in the top 10 to focus on one product category - electronic devices. Even with such a narrow business scope, it still managed to gain an average of 29 million visits per month. These figures show that online shopping is now popular among Vietnamese consumers and the size of the countrys e-commerce market will head ever-upwards in the future, iPrice concluded.Last year was a golden time for the e-commerce industry and players, as Vietnamese consumers become increasingly familiar with online shopping, Mr. Nguyen Dac Viet Dung, Chairman of the Management Board at Sendo.vn, told VET. Sendo recorded outstanding achievements in 2018, with growth rising three-fold against 2017.Cho Tot also experienced steady growth in online transactions in 2018, with total monthly visitors up 17 per cent compared to 2017 and total successful transactions reaching 3.5 million, according to Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Hai Duong, CEO of Cho Tot. The e-commerce landscape in Vietnam has taken off thanks to the combination of B2C and B2B models, she said. The market size of B2C in Vietnam is five times bigger than B2B, according to the E-commerce Industry in Vietnam Report 2018, supported by the appearance of improved logistics. The C2C model is gaining popularity among Vietnamese online users as the border between B2C and C2C has blurred in recent years.E-commerce witnessed fierce competition among the major players last year, according to the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM). Players kept funneling money into promotional campaigns to quickly acquire and then retain market share. They had great success with their marketing campaigns on November 11 and Black Friday (December 12), according to Mr. Kurokawa, which pushed them to be prepared for large purchases. As Vietnamese consumers are very price-conscious, he emphasized, the major players have introduced a host of promotional opportunities.iPrice noted that Shopee and Lazada constantly broke their sales records during promotion campaigns. In the industry for only four years, Shopee saw a record-breaking 2018 with more than 12 million orders on its December 12 Birday Sale around the region. Partnering with more than 450,000 brands and merchants, it recorded 48 million visits as users made 60 million deals across all categories. In Vietnam, it has scaled up its partnerships with more than 700 leading brands and retailers to offer users an extensive product assortment. 2018 proved to be an exciting year for Shopee Vietnam, said Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, Managing Director of Shopee Vietnam.Lazada also achieved significant results in 2018, with 1.3 billion visits in Southeast Asia and 90 million in Vietnam, during its November 11 and December 12 shopping festivals. For the first time, Lazadas last-mile delivery in the region was able to deliver more than 1 million parcels in a day. The total number of orders, products (SKUs, or stock keeping units), and vendors increased 1.6 times, 2.2 times, and 3 times, respectively, against 2017. 2018 was a unique year for the Lazada Group in Southeast Asia, as we went through a leadership transition, said Mr. Max Zhang, CEO of Lazada Vietnam.According to Mr. Kurokawa, the market more than doubled the growth in overall retail, at 11.7 per cent in 2018. Key drivers were the greater penetration of mobile apps and more loyal customers, together with marketing campaigns by major players.The e-commerce industry in 2018 also saw the closing of an e-commerce platform, www.vuivui.com, owned by Mobile World Investment (MWG), two years after being launched. A huge retailer in Vietnam, MWG expected vuivui.com to earn more revenue than its remaining chains - thegiodidong.com and dienmayxanh.com - by 2023. Looking at the failure, Mr. Kurokawa said that e-commerce has become a race to invest in picking up new customers and those that dont will disappear. The middle players, who dont have clear differentiation in products and services, will be short of cash and find it difficult to continue, he believes.Other players have said that success in the e-commerce industry is a long journey, where all businesses need to be cautious and have a clear vision. Tiki has faced some tough challenges on its journey, but we still have staked out a solid position in the market thanks to our customer and employee-centric vision, Mr. Tran Ngoc Thai Son, Founder and CEO of Tiki, told VET. This means that we do not exchange our core values for overheating the market.E-commerce is extremely competitive and requires huge investment in many fields, like technology and logistics, to ensure the best customer experience is provided, according to Mr. Zhang. This is even harder in a developing market like Vietnam, he said.In order to gain market share, major players have had to burn through massive amounts of money on sales and promotion campaigns to stimulate shopping and this largely lies behind huge losses for some. Lazada recorded the largest loss, followed by Tiki and Shopee, of VND1 trillion ($43.39 million) in 2015-2016, contributing to its accumulated losses of VND4 trillion ($173.56 million) by the end of 2017.After seven years in business, Tiki has accumulated nearly VND600 billion ($26.43 million) in losses, including VND308 billion ($13.56 million) in 2016 and VND284 billion ($12.5 billion) in 2017. Shopee, at the end of 2016, reported a loss of VND164 billion ($7.1 million), which rose to VND600 billion ($26.03 million) in 2017.To retain a leading position in the market, many industry players are backed by foreign e-commerce companies, as are those with great financial potential. Lazada, Shopee, Tiki and Sendo received substantial investment in 2018 from large financial and retail giants around the world to rapidly seize a large market share.Vietnam ranked sixth in e-commerce revenue globally in 2018, according to figures from online statistics portal Statista published on January 21. With 49.8 million customers shopping online, the countrys online sales revenue stood at $2.26 billion last year, up 29.4 per cent against 2017. VN Economic Times Private economy a driving force in Vietnam VietNamNet Bridge Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung talks to Vietnam News Agency on the Governments resolve to help private enterprises become a mainstay in the national economy. Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung. What has the Ministry of Planning and Investment advised the Government regarding the private sector? The 5th Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee considers the private sector an important driving force in the national economy. More recently, the Government has listed the task as an important motivation for the nation to advance in 2019. To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has advised the Government to issue Resolution 02 on the improvement of the investment environment and slash many more business conditions. We hope Resolution 02 will be strictly implemented by all ministries, sectors and localities. We should also raise our awareness on the role of the private sector in the national economy. To my knowledge, in some localities, many people have not adopted a proper attitude toward this sector. Adding to that, quite a few central Government agencies have not correctly assessed the challenges that the private economic sector has been facing. Thats why the attitude of ask and give still lingers when private enterprises ask them for help. Vietnam has ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) while being a signatory to more than 10 Free Trade Agreements (FTA). This has required us to change our technology so that we can participate in the global value chain. As a part of that value chain, the private sector needs the Governments support. What role do big Vietnamese companies play in helping private enterprises join the value chain? To my knowledge, many countries have adopted national policies to help develop big enterprises, including transnational economic groups. Vietnam is no exception. We want to have major economic groups or big enterprises take the lead. More recently, the Government has adopted many important policies and decisions on the development of the private economic sector, including big private enterprises. However, I have to admit that the Governments policies have not been strong enough. I hope in the near future things will change. We already have some big private enterprises in operation, like Vingroup, Sungroup, FLC, VietJet, Viettel and others. However, these enterprises need the Government to adopt stronger policies to help them develop and operate, particularly in the field of science and technology, credit and land. Whats more important is that the Government should create a bigger playground so they can contribute bigger shares to the national economy or act as a driving force for other enterprises to advance. What policies should the Government adopt to encourage private enterprises? Quang Ninh has attracted many big private enterprises to invest in projects, including Van Don Airport. This is a strong indication of the capacity of Vietnamese enterprises. It is the task of the Ministry of Planning and Investment to conduct a thorough study and come up with good proposals to attract capital investment from the private sector, particularly in major infrastructure projects. It is time for us to hold high the principal that what the private sector can do, the public sector should not do. The Government should increase efforts in doing what the private sector cant do or wont do particularly major infrastructure projects or projects in the public interest. It is the Governments mission to develop ecosystems and support the private sector in the course of applying advanced technology in production. In my opinion, this is the right way for Vietnamese enterprises to learn and be on par with their foreign peers. How has the Government helped major Vietnamese enterprises embrace Industry 4.0? This is a very interesting topic. Vingroup is good example for other enterprises to follow. At the beginning, Vingroup was only an economic group focusing on service delivery and real estate. But now it has switched to the field of hi-tech. It has called upon Vietnamese living abroad and foreign experts to help develop a high tech industry in Vietnam. Of course, the Government has expressed their willingness to go side by side with Vietnamese enterprises in the fourth industrial revolution. Assigned by the Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has developed a National Strategy on the fourth industrial revolution. We hope the strategy will be available in 2019. And of course, in the Industry 4.0, enterprises, research institutes and academies will be the major players. To prepare for that day, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is conducting a study to establish an innovation centre in Hoa Lac High Tech Zone some 20km from Hanoi. Source: VNS Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 3 Vote(s) - 2.33 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Jerusalem - Israel Reportedly Collaborated In Russian US Election Hacking spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 02-17-2019 07:09 AM Posts: 66,867 Post: #1 Jerusalem - Israel Reportedly Collaborated In Russian US Election Hacking Advertisement An Israeli cyber expert, who served in one of the IDFs elite hi-tech intelligence units and still serves in the reserves, has told TPS that the Israeli government did not prevent Israelis from working on the project with Russian companies involved in the hack. I know where the Democrats could find the smoking guns they are looking for to annul the election result, but I will not divulge that information, he told TPS shortly after the election but before the Electoral College convened to ratify the results. The source said that he had informed the Defense Ministry of the offer, as he is required to do. Under Israeli law, anyone serving (including as a reservist) in a classified elite unit is required to obtain approval from Sibat (a division of the defense ministry that deals with Israeli businesses or individuals providing defense and security equipment and consulting solutions to any non-Israeli entity) before accepting a contract from a non-Israeli entity. The ministry enforces these rules very strictly, and even senior, well-connected people have gotten into hot water in the past for failing to observe them. This fact is well known which means it is highly unlikely anyone would take such a risk, no matter how lucrative the project. He received no indication that there would be a problem with people who had served in his unit (and other similar ones) from signing a contract with the Russian controlled companies. Even after it had become clear what they were doing, no yellow cards were issued by the ministry , ordering them to end their participation in those projects. A few weeks later former Mossad Commander Efraim Halevy said that the Russian cyber-offensive against the US political system was a classic intelligence operation that succeeded. It played a decisive role in determining the outcome of the elections would be favorable to Russia, he said. Im not saying this in jest, he said, the cyber-attack targeting the American political system was a good example of a classic intelligence operation that successfully achieved its aim, which was to covertly manipulate and subvert their opponents political system by rigging the elections to ensure the outcome was what the Russian leadership wanted. He made the statement while speaking at a seminar in January at the Intelligence Heritage Center near Tel Aviv. In his lecture, Halevy said that intelligence was not only about gathering information, but also about effectively using it for a variety of purposes. He said this includes using disinformation (aka fake news) to manipulate and exploit the political process, in order to disrupt and subvert an enemys political system. A former intelligence officer who served in an intelligence service trained by the KGB confirmed to TPS that the Russian attack bore all the hallmarks of Maskirovka (Russian for mask). This is a term used to describe operations built on deception and disinformation, not force. Unlike westerners, Russian thinking has always regarded political systems as a legitimate target, as to them it is a political infrastructure, and therefore no less a legitimate target than any other strategic infrastructure. Van Clausewitz famously said `war is a continuation of diplomacy by other means`. A country is ultimately a political entity, subvert and paralyze the political system, and you have subverted and paralyzed the country, enabling you to manipulate its decision making establishment and process. more: https://www.vosizneias.com/262344/2017/0...n-hacking/ Jerusalem - TPS has uncovered credible evidence that Israelis, with unofficial government sanction, were involved with Russias cyber attack on the American political system.An Israeli cyber expert, who served in one of the IDFs elite hi-tech intelligence units and still serves in the reserves, has told TPS that the Israeli government did not prevent Israelis from working on the project with Russian companies involved in the hack.I know where the Democrats could find the smoking guns they are looking for to annul the election result, but I will not divulge that information, he told TPS shortly after the election but before the Electoral College convened to ratify the results.The source said that he had informed the Defense Ministry of the offer, as he is required to do. Under Israeli law, anyone serving (including as a reservist) in a classified elite unit is required to obtain approval from Sibat (a division of the defense ministry that deals with Israeli businesses or individuals providing defense and security equipment and consulting solutions to any non-Israeli entity) before accepting a contract from a non-Israeli entity.The ministry enforces these rules very strictly, and even senior, well-connected people have gotten into hot water in the past for failing to observe them. This fact is well known which means it is highly unlikely anyone would take such a risk, no matter how lucrative the project.He received no indication that there would be a problem with people who had served in his unit (and other similar ones) from signing a contract with the Russian controlled companies. Even after it had become clear what they were doing, no yellow cards were issued by the ministry , ordering them to end their participation in those projects.A few weeks later former Mossad Commander Efraim Halevy said that the Russian cyber-offensive against the US political system was a classic intelligence operation that succeeded. It played a decisive role in determining the outcome of the elections would be favorable to Russia, he said.Im not saying this in jest, he said, the cyber-attack targeting the American political system was a good example of a classic intelligence operation that successfully achieved its aim, which was to covertly manipulate and subvert their opponents political system by rigging the elections to ensure the outcome was what the Russian leadership wanted.He made the statement while speaking at a seminar in January at the Intelligence Heritage Center near Tel Aviv.In his lecture, Halevy said that intelligence was not only about gathering information, but also about effectively using it for a variety of purposes. He said this includes using disinformation (aka fake news) to manipulate and exploit the political process, in order to disrupt and subvert an enemys political system.A former intelligence officer who served in an intelligence service trained by the KGB confirmed to TPS that the Russian attack bore all the hallmarks of Maskirovka (Russian for mask). This is a term used to describe operations built on deception and disinformation, not force.Unlike westerners, Russian thinking has always regarded political systems as a legitimate target, as to them it is a political infrastructure, and therefore no less a legitimate target than any other strategic infrastructure.Van Clausewitz famously said `war is a continuation of diplomacy by other means`. A country is ultimately a political entity, subvert and paralyze the political system, and you have subverted and paralyzed the country, enabling you to manipulate its decision making establishment and process.more: LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 445472 02-17-2019 07:56 AM Post: #2 RE: Jerusalem - Israel Reportedly Collaborated In Russian US Election Hacking Now you're starting to get warm, coward. "Russians" is a code word for "Jews" If you do a search on all the 'Russians' that have been fingered, you'll find that many fo them are from the ex-soviet states - i.e. they're not Russian. They do almost always share one thing in common and that is they belong to the Jewish tribe. Now do searches on the Chinese Belt and Road and you'll find that Israeli-first American Jews are stealing high tech from the U.S. and sending it to Israel where they are building what will be the biggest high-tech center in the world. Microsoft designed Windows 10 in Israel, same with the Intel and Qualcomm chips and most of the surveillance, security and telecommunication software. Netanyahu said the best scientists and engineers in the world are Russian and that's why they have been bribing Russian scientists to come to Israel for the last 20 years even if they aren't Jewish. The brains will be Russian and Israelis and the production is to be done by China. The U.S. is being stripped of its high tech today in the same way it was stripped of its industrial base by Kissinger 40 years ago. The high tech goes to Israel and the production gets done in China. The U.S. will struggle to be the worlds war machine until the dollar collapses and everyone moves to the new currency. Israel is planning on dumping the U.S. Watch this over the next few years. The Belt and Road is the new world economic order and the U.S. has been left out. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 445472 02-17-2019 08:01 AM Post: #3 RE: Jerusalem - Israel Reportedly Collaborated In Russian US Election Hacking LoP Guest Wrote: (02-17-2019 07:56 AM) Now you're starting to get warm, coward. "Russians" is a code word for "Jews" If you do a search on all the 'Russians' that have been fingered, you'll find that many fo them are from the ex-soviet states - i.e. they're not Russian. They do almost always share one thing in common and that is they belong to the Jewish tribe. Now do searches on the Chinese Belt and Road and you'll find that Israeli-first American Jews are stealing high tech from the U.S. and sending it to Israel where they are building what will be the biggest high-tech center in the world. Microsoft designed Windows 10 in Israel, same with the Intel and Qualcomm chips and most of the surveillance, security and telecommunication software. Netanyahu said the best scientists and engineers in the world are Russian and that's why they have been bribing Russian scientists to come to Israel for the last 20 years even if they aren't Jewish. The brains will be Russian and Israelis and the production is to be done by China. The U.S. is being stripped of its high tech today in the same way it was stripped of its industrial base by Kissinger 40 years ago. The high tech goes to Israel and the production gets done in China. The U.S. will struggle to be the worlds war machine until the dollar collapses and everyone moves to the new currency. Israel is planning on dumping the U.S. Watch this over the next few years. The Belt and Road is the new world economic order and the U.S. has been left out. I forgot to mention 5G. 5G - i.e. the internet of everything - was designed in Israel as well. If you worry about China having back doors to all of your devices, TV's, fridges, cars, shopping, security, monitoring, banking etc? Then you should also be worried about the backdoors Israel is building into the devices as well. If you want to control the world, then this is the way you do it. I forgot to mention 5G. 5G - i.e. the internet of everything - was designed in Israel as well.If you worry about China having back doors to all of your devices, TV's, fridges, cars, shopping, security, monitoring, banking etc? Then you should also be worried about the backdoors Israel is building into the devices as well. If you want to control the world, then this is the way you do it. spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 02-17-2019 09:16 AM Posts: 66,867 Post: #4 RE: Jerusalem - Israel Reportedly Collaborated In Russian US Election Hacking LoP Guest Wrote: (02-17-2019 08:01 AM) I forgot to mention 5G. 5G - i.e. the internet of everything - was designed in Israel as well. global population wide (fear) frequency modulation tool ,perhaps? global population wide (fear) frequency modulation tool ,perhaps? Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread On a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Awantipora, the ghastly terror attack has been condemned in India and the world over. 40 security personnel were martyred in a suicide attack claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. At a time when an entire country has united in slamming Pakistan's role in supporting terrorists, WION has decided to withdraw invites sent to Pakistani speakers for its Global Summit. However, WION had invited former Pakistan President and its ex-Army chief Pervez Musharraf, current Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Imran Khan government Fawad Chaudhary, former High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Salman Bashir. The invites sent to all of them have been withdrawn. also read Indian government Should cut all diplomatic ties with Pakistan and declare war against Pakistan: Balochistan US body In a statement issued by WION and shared by Sudhir Chaudhary - Editor in Chief of Zee News, Zee Business and WION, it was said that 'the heinous attack has vitiated the atmosphere and any deliberation on collective prosperity with Pakistan is untenable.' WION also said that it remains committed to presenting India's perspective to the world 'that includes taking a stand against entities and individuals trying to hurt India.' Saluting the martyres of Pulwama and sharing thoughts and prayers with their families, WION stated that all other sessions of its Global Summit - scheduled for February 20 in Dubai - will be held as per schedule. also read Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Arora fitness workout video will inspire you to hit the Gymwatch video here In a recent news, an Iraqi woman recently gave birth to seven babies six girls and a boy - at a hospital in the Diyali Province of eastern Iraq. The natural birth is now believed to be the first septuplet birth in the country. According to reports, the mother and the children are in perfect condition after the delivery and images taken shortly after the birth have now gone viral on the internet. Firas Al Izzawi, a health department spokesperson, told reporters that it was a natural birth and the 25-year-old mother was perfectly healthy after delivering seven babies in a day. The father of the children, Youssef Fadl, said he and his wife had no plans to expand their family, but now they must look after ten children. also read Model was flaunting bikini, pigs walks up to her and bites on her bum, check out the video here Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey in Iowa gave birth to the first set of surviving septuplets in 1997. The couple had reportedly denied selective reduction, saying it was in Gods hands. The couple because so famous that the then president of the US, Bill Clinton, personally called the family and legendary TV host Oprah Winfrey called them on her show. Last year, a mother gave birth to sextuplets three girls and three boys at the Sait George University Hospital in Lebanon and two parents, Sian Williams and Aaron Palfrey, beat all odds to give birth to identical triplets. Sian was quoted by Lad Bible "I was excited to be having one baby, but in the scan, the doctor picked up two heartbeats and then the third one. One little egg had created three miracles. The doctors told us they were identical and the odds of that happening without fertility drugs was one in 200 million,. also read Perfume day special: Special messages quotes with images to impress your loved one Brussels: The European Parliament urged Saudi Arabia on Thursday to abolish its male guardianship system, under which women have to seek permission from their guardian on issues such as getting married, saying it and other rules reduce women to second-class citizens. Parliamentarians also expressed concern over "government web services" that allow male guardians to track women when they cross borders. A Saudi application called Absher notifies men when women travel. Although male guardianship has been chipped away at over the years it remains in force. Under the system, every Saudi women is assigned a male relative - often a father or husband but sometimes an uncle, brother or even a son - whose approval is needed if she is to marry, obtain a passport and travel abroad. In their resolution, approved by more than two thirds of the assembly, EU lawmakers urged the Saudi government to immediately abolish the system. Current rules in the kingdom effectively make women "second-class citizens," the document said. EU states should continue pressuring Riyadh on improving women conditions and human rights, lawmakers said. Resolutions by the parliament are not binding but can influence decisions made by EU governments and EU institutions. Despite reforms introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that have reduced discrimination, such as the lifting of the driving ban for women, lawmakers said "the Saudi political and social system remains discriminatory." They urged the release from Saudi prisons of women's rights defenders, including some who were arrested after campaigning to end the ban on women driving. Teacher Sarasamma has been in love with Malayalam poetry all through her life. She loves to dwell deep into the beautiful verses which have profound meanings. Her deep passion for poetry has prompted her to come up with a unique idea which allows her to communicate with people who are equally passionate about the art. She began a WhatsApp group for poetry admirers where the members could indulge in some serious discussions about poems. Besides, she has also started a Youtube channel which promotes good poetry. Within just one and a half months of venturing into the online platforms, both her WhatsApp group and Youtube channel became super hits among poetry lovers. Muvattupuzha native Sarasamma now lives at Koonamthayyil in Idappally. It's been 50 years since she has been reading and teaching poetry. In a family of 11 siblings, Sarasamma K Nair grew up listening to beautiful poetry by some of the most celebrated poets in Malayalam. She loved to read aloud the poems that were in her textbooks and also her siblings' books. Her father, who was equally passionate about poems never failed to encourage his daughter's love for poetry. Among the 11 siblings, 7, including Sarasamma, became teachers and the rest landed jobs in the government services. Her elder sister passed away 3 years ago. Writers Chandrasekharan who writes in the pseudonym Balendu, and Muthalapuram Mohandas are her brothers. She got appointed as a teacher at the government Model High School Palappuzha 25 years ago. The teacher even worked for 6 years at the Aroor UP School. Her husband PN Kesavan Nair too is a teacher who retired as the principal of the Maradi School. Sarasamma who retired as a headmistress, says that she fell in love with poetry ever since she began teaching it. Sarasamma teacher happily chooses poems for students to recite at competitions. She even tunes poems and train them to recite it without losing the essence of it. Not just the school where she was teaching, but the neighbouring schools, too, invited her to teach poetry there. She never disappoints any of them. She gets thrilled and excited when her students compete with each other at the recitation or aksharashlokam competitions. She joined the Changampuzha cultural centre when she moved to Idapally after retiring in 2000. The teacher even managed the activities at the centre for 8 years. She is often invited as a judge at many poetry recitation competitions. Sarasamma teacher started a kalari (training centre) at her home to train young kids in poetry. As the number of students increased, the classes shifted to her WhatsApp group. She would sing the poems and shlokas, record them and post on the group. Within 24 hours, the students would listen to it, learn the tune and other features and the record their own version and post it on the group. The teacher would then make corrections in their renditions. She would correct at least 30 such voice clips a day. Sarasamma even has students from Dubai and United States of America who are members of the Kavyalapanam WhatsApp kalari. When her WhatsApp group became incredibly popular, she began a Youtube channel called Kavitharamam. Anyone can upload videos of poems in it. Many prominent poets have recited their poems and uploaded the videos of it on this Youtube channel. Around 32 such videos have already been uploaded on the channel so far. From the legendary poet Ezhuthachan to many modern poets who give prominence to meters and stanzas, Sarasamma teacher has a long list of favourite poets. However, she admits that she has a special liking to the beautiful poems of Vyloppili Sreedhara Menon. But her favourite poem is 'Prema Sangeetham' by Ulloor. She says that the poem conveys great philosophical values in each of its lines. Even though she has been reading and teaching poetry for more than 2 decades, Sarasamma teacher hasn't written a single line of poem until now. She doesn't have any regrets about it, as hundreds of poems and poets have always been part of her life. Bengaluru: A woman teacher of a private school in Karnataka has been arrested for allegedly hailing Pakistan in the backdrop of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that left at least 40 CRPF personnel dead, police said Sunday. Jilekha Bi of the school at Shivapura in Belagavi was arrested Saturday night after she posted a message on social media saying "Pakistan Ki Jay Ho", they said. She is the second person to be arrested in the state over similar comments on the Thursday's suicide bomb attack in Pulwama. A Kashmiri student studying in a city college was arrested Saturday for hailing the Jaish terrorist in a social networking site. The teacher, a native of Belagavi, was produced in a local court Sunday and remanded in judicial custody, police said. Her post triggered public outrage and some youth gathered near her house, pelted it with stones and allegedly tried to set it afire, they added. Soon, police reached the spot, arrested the woman and the protestors. Earlier Saturday, police arrested 23-year-old Tahir Latif of Baramula district. He had allegedly put up a screenshot of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar and the bodies of the slain soldiers as his display picture on WhatsApp and praised him. Besides the two, police have also registered a case against another Kashmiri youth Abid Malik for posting remarks on Facebook allegedly describing the terror attack as "The real surgical attack". Following the complaint, Facebook deleted his account. Forty CRPF personnel were killed Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when the Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. Bengaluru: A Kashmiri student studying in a college here was Saturday arrested for allegedly hailing the Jaish terrorist who carried out the suicide attack at Pulawama killing 40 CRPF Jawans. The police said 23-year-old Tahir Latif from Baramula district is a student of Rewa University. He had allegedly put up a screen-shot of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Adil Ahmed and the bodies of the slain soldiers as his display picture on WhatsApp. He had also allegedly put up a status message saying, "A big salute to this brave man!!! May Allah accept your Shahadat and give you highest place in Jannah #Shaheed Adil Bhai". Based on a student's complaint, a case was registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and various IPC sections, including 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), police said. Earlier, following a complaint by Vishwa Hindu Parishad office bearer Girish Bharadwaj, a case was registered here against Kashmiri youth Abid Malik for allegedly posting derogatory remarks on Facebook. The case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, for an FB post. The youth allegedly shared some images posted by a news channel after the attack and captioned it 'The real surgical attack' on his FB page, police said. During the investigation, it came to light that he had studied at a college here and worked at an event management firm, but had gone back to his home state. The case was registered here as he had mentioned in his profile that he lived in Bengaluru, police said. Following the complaint, Facebook deleted his account. Forty CRPF personnel were killed Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when the Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. Read more: Latest India news Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has issued orders to withdraw security of five separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The security cover for Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Hashim Qureshi and Shabir Shah has also been withdrawn, officials said. However, there is no mention of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the order. According to the order, all security and vehicles provided to the separatists will stand withdrawn by Sunday evening. No security forces or cover will be provided, under any pretext, to them or any other separatists. If they have any other facilities provided by the government, they are to be withdrawn forthwith. The police will review if there are any other separatists who have security or facilities which will be withdrawn immediately, the officials said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, during his visit to Srinagar on Friday, had said security given to people getting funds from Pakistan and its snooping agency ISI should be reviewed. At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus in Pulwama district. "Some elements in Jammu and Kashmir have links with the ISI and terrorist organisations. Their security should be reviewed," he had said after reviewing security in the aftermath of dastardly terror attack in South Kashmir's Pulwama district. Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus in Pulwama district. The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar. Read more: Latest India news Lakhimpur (Assam): BJP president Amit Shah said Sunday that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama will not go in vain and that the BJP government will not 'compromise' on any security issue. Slamming the opposition Congress and its former ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Shah said both the parties did nothing to implement the Assam Accord despite ruling most of the period since signing of the pact in 1985. The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the government of India and the leaders of Assam Movement for the identification and deportation of illegal immigrants. "We will not allow Assam to become a second Kashmir. That is why we have brought NRC (National Register of Citizens). We will deport each and every infiltrators with the help of NRC. We are committed to that," he added. Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus in Pulwama district. The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar. On the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which the Centre failed to table in Rajya Sabha, the BJP president said misinformation were being spread as if it was only for Assam and other parts of the Northeast. "It was not only for Northeast, but for all refugees in entire country. The way demography is changing in Assam, without the Citizenship Bill, the people of the state will be in big danger," he added. The BJP leader claimed that only a few people protested against the bill and that too not on the issue, but only to take benefits out of the situation. "The AGP and all others, who are opposing the Citizenship Bill, were defeated in recent three council and panchayat polls. People of Assam are with peace, development, Narendra Modi, Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma," he added. Shah also mentioned about the Centre forming a high-powered committee to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord for giving safeguards to Assamese people and steps taken to grant ST status to six indigenous communities of the state. The BJP president also spoke about a host of schemes initiated by the Modi government for the Northeast and urged people to vote for the saffron party again in the coming Lok Sabha polls. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 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 the Northeast after the prime minister had announced in Silchar on January 4 that the controversial 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 India, instead of current the 11 years. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Kasaragod: Two Youth Congress workers were hacked to death near Periya in Kasaragod on Sunday. The deceased have been identified as Kripesh and Sarath Lal, both hailing from Kalliyode near Periya. The Youth Congress has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Kerala on Monday. The duo was attacked by three men at 8:30pm on Sunday. The gang followed them on motorcycles and attacked them near Periya. They were dragged to a nearby bush where the gang fatally attacked them. Kripesh died on the spot. Sarath Lal later succumbed to injuries while being taken to a hospital in Mangaluru. Kripesh's body was brought to the Kasaragod General Hospital Sunday night. Meanwhile, the Congress alleged that CPI(M) is behind the attack. The UDF has called for a district-wide hartal in Kasaragod on Monday. The Youth Congress will observe a day of protest on Monday. The Kerala Students Union (KSU) has also called for an education bandh in the state on Monday. Kripesh's body was brought to the Kasaragod General Hospital Sunday night. Tension prevailed between CPM and Congress workers in the Periya area earlier. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the murder was premeditated. CPM is trying to eliminate Congress with the backing of power, he claimed. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran will head to Kasaragod on Monday. "The slain workers were innocent. They were threatened earlier also. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should explain why they were killed," Mullappally said. "Pinarayi does not have a conscience. If he is courageous, he should ask his followers to lay down arms. The Kasaragod murders show that he is not ready to give up violence. Public conscience should come up against these murders. The Congress will continue the agitations till this violence comes to an end," he added. Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted the party would not rest till the murderers were brought to justice. Wayanad: The cries of 'Amar Vasanthakumar Ki Jai and Bharat Mata Ki Jai rented the air as CRPF personnel brought the mortal remains of the martyred soldier to his house in Lakkidi in the district on Saturday. Thousands gathered at his house to pay respects to Vasanthakumar who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday evening. Vasanthakumar was cremated at his ancestral house after ceremonies at Kuruma Colony in Thrukaipatta, Mukkamkunnu. Touching scenes The scene at the house was heart-rending. Some of his colleagues could be seen struggling to control their emotions. The body was moved to the Government LP School after half an hour, where it was kept for an additional 90 minutes as more people flowed in to pay homage. His wife Sheena paid her last respects after being carried to the coffin by relatives. Vasanthakumar's mother Santha too fainted several time during the funeral. Vasanthakumar's daughter Anamika looked glum all day as men in uniform visited the house. She kept brother Amardeep close to her. Wails of mother Shantha could be heard inside as she recounted memories of her son. Relatives struggled to keep her calm. Vasanthakumar's body was cremated with full state honours at his native village in Wayanad on Saturday. Shantha had developed pain in her legs recently. Despite Vasanthakumars insistence to go to a doctor, she had left it for the next time her son came on leave. Tough task Senior CRPF officials had reached Vasanthakumar's house on Saturday. Assistant Commandant Alex George was introduced to Anamika and Amardeep by half-brother Sajeevan. Officer George came with a difficult task. He met family members and took Sajeevan away a few feet. He conveyed the information with much difficulty: The coffin cannot be opened. Please ask all relatives not to insist on it, George requested. Sajeevan walked back to family members without saying anything. A mild sob rose as he conveyed the officers message. Vasanthakumar was among the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. Kasaragod: The return of Narendra Modi to power will be the 'death knell' of all the constitutional institutions in India, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Saturday. He was speaking here at the inauguration of the northern region 'Kerala Samrakshana Yatra' which will be led by CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran and will highlight the 'failures"'of the central government. "Return of Narendra Modi to power will be the death knell of all the constitutional institutions in India. As of now, an attack has been launched against them. It will result in creating a wide gap between the rich and the poor in the society," Yechury said. Speaking about the Pulwama attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, he said it should not be communalised for political gains. "The Kashmir attack should be seen as a terrorist attack. The attack should not be communalised considering the religion of the terrorist and used for political gains. The country should stand together against terrorism," the CPI(M) leader said. He said in West Bengal, both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP are political rivals of the communist party. "The massive rally of the CPM in Bengal shows our clout there but Trinamool was not allowing people to vote there. We have not made any deals with the Congress party, but the aim is to oust the Narendra Modi government. (We) will take decisions accordingly. The main aim is to defeat the BJP candidates," Yechury said, addressing thousands of Left Democratic Front (LDF) workers. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the LDF has organised two regional yatras in the state. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan began his march from the southern district of the state -- Thiruvananthapuram -- on Thursday and it was inaugurated by CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy. Both the marches will conclude on March 2 in Thrissur. Yechury also said the Sabarimala issue is not going to have an impact on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Kerala had witnessed widespread protests after the CPM-led LDF government decided to implement the Supreme Court verdict that allowed women of all age groups to enter the Lord Ayappa Temple at Sabarimala. Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala Police team has left for Bengaluru in search for former cleric Shafeeq Al Qasimi who allegedly sexually assaulted a minor girl. Qasimi went absconding after a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) case was filed against him. His brother, Naushad from Perumbavoor, too has gone missing, though the police could arrest another sibling Al Ameen on Saturday. His brothers already in custody have given contradicting statements on Qasimis presence in Bangalore. Al Ameen, taken into custody Saturday from Thrippunithura, said Al Qasimi went to Bangalore two days ago. Two other brothers, Ansari and Shaji, have said he has not left Kerala, but hiding in Ernakulam. The brothers had lied about the vehicle in which the assault happened. They said it was discarded in Perumbavoor, but it was found from Vytilla in Ernakulam. A team under Nedumangad DySP will question the three brothers in custody together to ascertain truth. Naushads disappearance has led the police to believe he could be hiding with Qasimi. The manhunt for the absconders has been intensified. The former Imam was booked on Tuesday on charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl at Vithura near here. Al Qasimi, who was the former Imam of a village mosque at Tholicode, Vithura. The case under the POCSO Act was registered against him based on the mosque committee's statement which claimed Qasimi had lured the girl to an isolated forest area and sexually assaulted her last week. The committee suspended him from the Kozhikode Muslim Jama-ath after it came to know about the crime. Read more: Latest Kerala news Kannur: By handing down a total of 60 years of rigorous imprisonment to former priest Robin Vadakkumcherry for raping and impregnating a minor girl in the infamous Kottiyoor case, the criminal justice system has sent out a strong message that those taking advantage of minors in heinous ways would be severely punished. The court has also stated that criminal proceedings must be initiated against the parents of the minor mother for turning hostile during the trial. The convict will have to undergo only 20 years of imprisonment as the sentences in three difference offences in the single trial shall run concurrently. The fine amount of Rs 3 lakh should be paid to the victim. Ever since the matter came to light, there had been an alleged attempt to cover up the whole incident and bail out the priest. The girls father, who belongs to an economically backward family, was also promised Rs 10 lakh to own up the crime. The victim and her mother had also turned hostile, claiming that she was above 18 at the time of the incident, which raised questions over the validity of trying the case in a POCSO special court. The 'age challenge' The greatest challenge for the prosecution was to prove the age of the victim. Though the investigators attempted to recover medical records from the hospital where she gave birth to a baby on February 17, 2017, the hospital authorities informed them that the registry was not available. However, the court based its verdict on the live birth certificate of the victim obtained from the local body concerned, which gave her year of birth as 1999. It helped the prosecution to argue that she was a minor in 2016 when the rape had occurred. A DNA test followed, which confirmed that Robin is the biological father of the child. In the meantime, the accused and the victim filed a petition seeking conduct of scientific tests to ascertain the latters age, but the court dismissed their plea. Taking into account the physical and mental torture and the trauma undergone by the victim, the court decided against initiating criminal proceedings against her for turning hostile in the case. Robin pleads for mild punishment Prior to the pronouncement of the sentence, the accused pleaded for relaxing the punishment saying that the victim and the child were dependent on him. The court responded that life imprisonment was not awarded to him only because it was considerate and sympathetic towards the child. The judge further observed that the gravity of the offence and its impact on the victim was shocking. The ruling, based on scientific evidence, found only the prime accused guilty of the crime. The police had arraigned nine persons including five nuns and an administrator who were accused of covering up the incident. The Supreme Court had earlier quashed all charges against three staff members of Christuraj Hospital, Koothuparamba, where the victim gave birth to the child. The remaining six others were also acquitted on Saturday for want of evidence. They were: second accused Thankamma alias Annamma, 54; sixth accused Sr Liz Maria, 35; seventh accused Sr Aneeta, 48; Sr Ophilia, 73, Superintendent, Holy infant Mary Orphanage, Vythiri; ninth accused and former chairman of the Wayanad District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Fr Thomas Joseph Therakam, 68; and 10th accused and former member of the CWC Sr Betty Jose, 71. Read more: Latest Kerala news Thiruvananthapuram: The longest road tunnel in India outside Jammu & Kashmir is expected to come up in Kerala. The state government has asked the Konkan Rail Corporation to prepare a blueprint for a 6.5-km tunnel that would run parallel to the Thamarassery pass that connects Kozhikode to Wayanad. The Konkan Rail Corporation has expressed its willingness to prepare a blueprint and construct the tunnel, according to the order signed by public works secretary G Kamalavardhana Rao. The tunnel that starts at Anakkampoyil and goes on through Kalladi to Meppadi on the hills is expected to cost Rs 600 crore. The subterranean road, when completed, would be 30 km shorter than the present pass, which is prone to landslides and frequent roadblocks. The two-lane project is planned to be funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The project also includes approach roads on either side of the tunnel and a 70-metre bridge over the Iranjipuzha River. A feasibility study on the project was finished in 2014 and the necessary government approvals were given in 2016. The Road Fund Board was originally selected as the special purpose vehicle to run the project but a report by the public works chief engineer recommended handing over the project to an experienced agency. The proposed tunnel road would be shorter only to the two tunnels in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chenani-Nashri tunnel road on National Highway 44 is 9.2 km long, while the Banihal-Qazigund tunnel in the Pir Panjal range is 8.5 km long. Kerala's longest road tunnelis at Kuthiran between Thrissur and Palakkad at 962 metres. Read more Kerala News Off late, the Kerala government has introduced several new projects and provisions in favor of, and to improve accessibility for, people who are differently abled. A recent move by the Kerala government that is much talked of by the members of the disabled community is the decision to introduce exclusive court sessions for persons with disabilities in Kerala. It is obvious that a majority of public buildings and services suffer from major accessibility constraints, especially for people with locomotor disabilities. Recognizing the fact that persons with disabilities have to undergo numerous struggles even to file cases and attend court hearings, has motivated the government to offer up separate court sessions for persons with disabilities. The arrangements for such a move have begun from the month of February. This is indeed a novel and much appreciated move from the Kerala state government that has always stood up for empowering disabled people. According to the Rights of Persons with disabilities Act, 2016, state governments must have special provisions to handle cases of people with disabilities. That is precisely the reason why the government introduced this new facility. It will be introduced in all districts across the state. The government has also assured that the court building and premises will be disabled friendly. They will have exclusive accessible parking spaces where disabled people can park their cars at the entrance of the court. They will also have wheelchair ramps for people with loco motor disabilities. Since cases of people without disabilities are not going to be handled at the court, disabled people do not have to wait in long queues to get justice. Having accessible court premises would be a good step towards making all public buildings accessible. Disabled people, activists and NGOs have been raising complaints about the difficulties that they face while fighting a case at Indian courts. Since there are no proper facilities for seating arrangements, they often get tired waiting for long hours. But not anymore. These new court premises will have special seating arrangements for people with all kinds of disabilities. Decisions pertaining to working days of the court, the different cases and the number of cases that will be taken up will be decided by the Judge. The governments move has been received with unbridled enthusiasm from the disabled community in Kerala. The community welcomes it as a good first step towards making all public spaces accessible. The Kerala government is indeed proving that it recognizes the fact that access to public spaces is a right and not a privilege to be enjoyed by a few. Moreover, it is also important to, above all, ensure that redressal mechanisms exist and are functioning in an accessible manner, in order to implement the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016. If mechanisms exist for redressing the grievances of persons with disabilities, I do not doubt that more people will come forward with accessibility cases, thus taking our society forward, step by step, towards an accessible world, truly inclusive to all. Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP has asked its NDA allies except the BDJS if they can afford their campaign expenses if given seats to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Campaigning in a constituency would cost at least Rs 10 crore. The chances of small parties securing a seat from the BJP depend on their capability to fund their campaigns. In response, the Kerala Congress led by PC Thomas and the Nationalist Kerala Congress have said they would reveal their financial capability to run the poll campaign once seats are allocated. Socialist Janata Dal, Praja Socialist Party and Loktantrik Janata Dal, all constituents of the NDA, are yet to respond on the condition put forward by the leading partner BJP. The minor parties find the demand a BJP tactic to deny them seats. The party believes BDJS (Bharat Dharma Jana Sena), which is the political front of the influential SNDP, has the capability to fund its own candidates. The BJP leadership is of the view if minor parties are in the fray, it might put an additional financial burden on itself. Smaller NDA allies have expressed their displeasure to BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai over its second-rung leaders leading the talks with them. They have also written to the central leadership against the BJP state leadership leaving them out of meetings with BDJS. Read more: Latest on LS polls Authorities say four people are dead and a suspect is in custody after a domestic dispute in Mississippi led to a fatal hostage standoff, Trend reported citing The Canadian Press. Clinton city spokesman Mark Jones says the incident began about 2:30 a.m. Saturday inside a Clinton home and lasted for about 12 hours. Jones says four people were killed but did not provide any other details about the deaths in the Jackson suburb. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation says the suspect has been taken into custody. Clinton Police Chief Ford Hayman says two small children who had been inside were released before the hostage situation came to an end. Capt. Johnny Poulos says the MBI took over the case because the shooting involved police. He could not provide any information on what led to the shooting. The US State Department said in a statement on Saturday that spokeswoman Heather Nauert had withdrawn her nomination for the post of US Ambassador to the United Nations, Trend reported citing Sputnik. "Today Heather Nauert withdrew herself from consideration for the nomination of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. The President [Donald Trump] will make an announcement with respect to a nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations soon", the statement says. "The past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration", Nauert said in a statement issued by the State Department on Saturday. Current US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, previously announced her intention to resign. The Trump administration nominated Nauert to succeed Haley. Trump subsequently announced that he planned to nominate Nauert to replace Haley. While announcing his decision in December 2018, Trump praised Nauert for her work with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He characterized the spokeswoman as "very talented, very smart, and very quick" and a person who would be respected by all. Prior to being appointed to her position at the State Department, Nauert worked as a correspondent for ABC News and a news presenter for Fox News. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), however, noted that Nauert lacked the diplomatic experience and qualification to take up the job of US ambassador to the United Nations. Similarly, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, expressed concern that Nauert did not have the skill set required to do the job. 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. President Donald Trump will get an update on trade talks with China on Saturday at his Florida retreat, after U.S.-Chinese discussions in Beijing saw progress ahead of a looming March 1 deadline for reaching a deal, Trend reported citing Reuters. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump would meet members of his trade team at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday afternoon. Joining Trump in person will be U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and trade expert Peter Navarro, said Sanders. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and other aides will join by phone. At a White House press conference on Friday, Trump said he may extend the March 1 deadline and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising. U.S. duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are set to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent if no deal is reached by March 1 to address U.S. demands that China curb forced technology transfers and better enforce intellectual property rights. Both the United States and China reported progress in five days of negotiations in Beijing this week but the White House said much work remains to be done to force changes in Chinese trade behavior. Trump said on Friday the United States was closer than ever before to having a real trade deal with China but that the talks were very complicated. Chinas Vice Premier and chief trade negotiator Liu He and Lighthizer are to lead the next round of talks this coming week in Washington. The USS Tulsa (LCS-16), an Independence-class littoral combat ship equipped with stealth technology, was officially commissioned by the US Navy, Trend reported citing Sputnik. The commissioning ceremony took place at 10 a.m. local time in San Francisco, California, and was broadcast on US Navy's Youtube channel. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford attended the ceremony. The ship is assigned to the city of San Diego and became the 15th military vessel of this class. US Navy intends to commission a total of 34 sLCS ships. Tulsa, the latest addition to the US fleet of littoral combat ships, is designed to defeat asymmetric "anti-access" threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. Albanian police arrested 15 persons and is looking for 7 others accused of using violence during the protest on Saturday, police said in a statement, Trend citing Xinhua. According to the statement, Albanian police have arrested 15 citizens for the criminal offenses of "Opposing of the public order police officer", "Hitting someone while on duty", "Property destruction" and "Disturbing of public order". The police said that 5 citizens were prosecuted in a free state, and other 7 are declared wanted. In a reaction to Saturday's protest, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed his dismay at the echo of violent opposition protest in foreign media. "What dismay at the echo of yesterday's ugliness in international media. The blind policy of an opposition without vision, program and leadership did nothing to the government, but hit Albania in the eyes of the world and fed all those needing pretexts to drag accession negotiations with European Union. It's a shame," Rama said. Thousands of Albanian protesters under the direction of the Albanian opposition parties clashed with Albanian police and attacked the office of Rama. The opposition protests against the government, asking for Rama to resign and for early elections. The protesters broke through the police cordon, attacked the front door of the prime minister's office, throwing Molotov cocktail and bottles filled with gasoline. Meanwhile, at the end of the protest, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party Lulzim Basha invited protesters to join another protest on Feb. 21. The possible exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union without an agreement may cost the c economy 0.5-1 percent of GDP, Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek told reporters on Saturday, Trend reports citing Sputnik. "There are several possible scenarios. The most pessimistic options, of course, come from the 'no-deal' Brexit. Estimates indicate a weakening of the Czech economy at a level between 0.5 and 1 percent of GDP. This is a very serious fall, so I believe that it is not in the interests of any of the parties that the UK withdraw from the EU without an agreement", Petricek said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. According to the minister, the impact of such a scenario on the UK economy would be even more significant. "The practical side of the 'hard' Brexit will be even more problematic. France is already preparing for immensely long convoys of trucks that will not be cleared by customs because there will be no documents on the basis of which this can be done", Petricek said. Similar problems may arise also in air transportation and in other sectors, he noted. "But I still hope that a decision will be found. There is still the possibility of postponing the scheduled withdrawal date [March 29] if the UK side asks for it," the minister noted. According to the Czech Statistical Office, the United Kingdom is one of the most important partners for the country. It accounted for 4.9 percent of total Czech exports in 2017, while UK share in Czech imports was 2.3 percent. The latest forecast of experts of the international consulting company Deloitte revealed the Czech economy is expected to grow by about 2.2 percent in 2019. The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union on 29 March. While London has managed to negotiate a withdrawal deal with Brussels after months of intense talks, the agreement has faced a wave of criticism in the United Kingdom and mounting calls for a second Brexit referendum, with the parliament so far refusing to endorse the deal. Meanwhile, the Czech government has prepared a bill defining the Czech-UK relations in case of a no-deal Brexit. According to Jan Hamacek, the country's interior minister and first deputy prime minister, "the bill envisages a transition period until 31 December of this year, during which UK citizens will be granted the same position that they had as EU citizens in a range of spheres in our country". Jan Hamacek said in January that if the proposed bill was not passed, then around 8,000 UK citizens residing in the Czech Republic would have a status of foreigners from non-EU nations after Brexit. This means that they will not be able to work legally there unless they received special permits, and they will also be unable to use medical and social services. Since the no-deal Brexit raises concerns due to uncertainty both for UK citizens and companies living and working in the EU states and for the UK-based EU citizens and firms, the EU states have engaged in contingency planning. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday started his tour of South Asia and China with an official two-day visit to Pakistan, Trend reported referring to local media. Upon his arrival at the Pakistani Noor Khan air base, the Saudi crown prince was welcomed by Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to the Saudi Gazette. During the visit, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are expected to sign a number of investment agreements, including for a $10-billion refinery and petrochemicals complex in the coastal city of Gwadar, the newspaper reported. Pakistani Foreign Minister told Sputnik on Friday that he hopes Saudi crown prince's visit would bring more investments to the country. The senior diplomat praised a long history of Saudi-Pakistani political relations, adding the two countries had been supporting each other at the international level and suggested that Pakistan could help mediate the Saudi-Qatari spat. The Dawn newspaper reported in December that the State Bank of Pakistan received a $1 billion deposit from Saudi Arabia, which is part of a pledged $3 billion in bailout money aimed at addressing the nations balance-of-payments crisis. The media outlet, citing the Pakistani bank official, said that the next tranche of bailout money would come soon. Riyadh also reportedly promised Islamabad deferred payment facility for oil import worth up to $3 billion. In May 2015, media reports emerged claiming that Saudi Arabia had allegedly made a move to purchase nuclear weapons from Pakistan. However, a Pakistani senior official has told Sputnik that Islamabad does not have any alleged agreements on nuclear cooperation with Riyadh, stressing that "most such reports emanate from New Delhi". The crown prince is expected to conclude his Asia tour with a China visit on Friday. Iraqi President Barham Salih on Sunday said that the elimination of terrorism requires an international commitment to supporting the affected countries and reconstruction, Trend reports citing Xinhua. A statement by his office said that Salih's comments came as he received in his office in Baghdad the U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. Central Command, and his accompanying delegation. "The elimination of terrorism once and for all requires cooperation and commitment by the international community in supporting and shoring up the affected countries and their reconstruction," the statement said. During the meeting, Salih highlighted the importance of developing security and military cooperation between Iraq and the United States, as well as discussing the "U.S. contribution to arming and improving the military capabilities of the Iraqi security forces," the statement added. For his part, Votel renewed his country's commitment to supporting Iraq and developing the capability of the Iraqi security forces, by training and arming them, the statement said. The two sides confirmed in the meeting that the presence of any forces as support to face terrorism is at the invitation of the Iraqi government and within the agreed goals by the two sides, it added. Votel also held a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who is also Commander-in-Chief of Iraqi forces, and the two discussed cooperation in the war against the Islamic State group, as well as the training of Iraqi forces, according to a statement issued by Abdul Mahdi's office. They also discussed the "Iraqi government's intentions to enhance security and stability and the reconstruction of liberated cities, in addition to efforts to eliminate Daesh (IS group) remnants in Syria," the statement added. Earlier, foreign media reports said that Votel was expected to discuss with officials in Baghdad the impact of the U.S. withdrawal from Syria on Iraq, where the extremist IS militants have already started tactics of guerrilla warfare after losing its strongholds in the country. Over 5,000 U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the IS militants, mainly by providing training and advising to the Iraqi forces. The troops were part of the U.S.-led international coalition that has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria. Irans new domestically-developed submarine Fateh joined the country's naval fleet, Trend reports citing IRNA. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended the ceremony in the southern Bandar Abbas port in the Persian Gulf in which many military officers were present. Fateh (Conqueror, in Persian) is Irans first semi-heavy submarine with outstanding and unique feature, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, said Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami on Sunday. This submarine joined Iranian naval fleet after final successful tests, he added. The Iranian defense minister said the submarines production shows the countrys self-sufficiency in defense sector. He added that Irans defense industry is the fundamental part of the countrys independence and guarantees its security and stability. Fateh is Irans most advanced domestically-built submarine. The submarine is equipped with sonar, electric drive, combined battle management, surface-to-surface guided missile guidance, torpedo guidance, electronic and telecommunication warfare, secure and integrated telecommunication systems and dozens of state-of-art modern systems. 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 can carry eight sea mines and two reserve torpedoes. The Iranian president also toured the Navy's factories that desgin, develop, manufacture and repair various military vessels. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: Iran exports leather to several countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq, Said Hayati, chairman of the Iranian Association of Natural and Artificial Leather Goods, said. Iran has a lot of customers who buy natural leather, Hayati added, Trend reports to the Young Journalists Club (YJC). He added that there is a lack of raw materials in the natural leather market. Many people prefer natural leather in Iran, however, they have to buy artificial leather because of high price for natural leather, Hayati said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17 By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend: Azerbaijani programmers are developing a mobile app that will simplify the procedure for obtaining visas by tourists, a source close to the project told Trend. The app will process passport data and send it to the Asan Visa system, the source noted. "To obtain a visa, tourists will only need to take a picture of their passport data without having to fill out a form via the web interface. The service was supposed to be launched in February, but due to the fact that the developers needed to purchase additional software to integrate into the app, they could not meet the planned deadlines," the source said. As previously reported, the service will be a paid one, and two options are considered for its commercialization - either the sale of the app or receiving a commission fee from the issuance of each visa. According to preliminary information, the service will cost the user $2, not including the cost of the visa itself. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyev Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17 By Rashid Shirinov Trend: Ten export-oriented projects will be launched in Pavlodar Special Economic Zone in Kazakhstan in the next two years, Trend reports via Kazakh media. They include production of aluminum profiles, radiators, household chemicals, polymeric containers, heating boilers and artificial stone sinks, Governor of the Pavlodar Region Bulat Bakauov said at the final reporting meeting, noting that these products should drive out of the market their imported analogues. The head of the region also said that export of goods from Pavlodar grew by 1.7 times in 2018. It should be noted that Pavlodar Special Economic Zone was recognized as the best resource and raw material base in the global ranking of special zones, according to the Foreign Direct Investment Magazine. Enterprises of the special economic zone produced goods worth 31 billion tenge, and the budget of the region received almost 1.8 billion tenge in taxes. (377.62 KZT = 1 USD on Feb. 17) --- Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: The quota for foreign labor force in Azerbaijan is 6,600 people for 2019, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Azerbaijan Sahil Babayev told Trend. He said that during the process of developing a quota, the ministry took into account in which industry there is a need for foreign skilled labor force. "We dont attract foreigners to the industries where we can provide ourselves with working-age population," he noted. "The quota has already been established for the current year, it wont change, so no reductions in this indicator are expected." Next year, the ministry will proceed from the needs in different areas, he said. "In this regard, we will send requests to the relevant organizations that operate in various sectors of the economy," he added. "Then we will compare this data with the database of labor force in Azerbaijan, and only after that a quota approval committee will be assembled and will make a final decision on this issue." --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17 By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend: The delegation of Malaysian company TXMR will visit Uzbekistan in April to discuss the creation of joint production of robotics in the country, Trend reports with reference to Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Ministry states that Uzbek Ambassador to Malaysia, Ravshan Usmanov, visited the TXMR production facilities, where he met with the executive director of the company, Tengku Farid. The sides discussed prospects for the creation of modern high-tech enterprises with the attraction of foreign investment in Uzbekistan. The plant will help to improve the efficiency and profitability of domestic production lines. The Malaysian side highly appreciated the measures taken by Uzbekistan to modernize the industrial sector, expand the range of import-substituting products and stressed its interest in establishing mutually beneficial contacts. TXMR is a leader in industrial automation and robot manufacturing, not only in Malaysia, but also in Southeast Asia. TXMR Sdn Bhd was incorporated in Malaysia on 24th September 2010 and locates in Subang Jaya, Selangor. The company focuses on total Industrial Cyber Physical System Integration Solution towards Eco Innovation & Green Technology adoption in-line with Industrial 4.0. --- Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17 Trend: Via social networks the Armenians call for exacerbating the incident that occurred between the Azerbaijanis and the Chechens in Moscow, Trend reports. Armenian social network users urge compatriots to fully take advantage of this situation. "So guys, of course, you are all aware of a joyful event for us, social network user Arman Abovyan said. I mean the incident between the Azerbaijanis and the Chechens in Moscow. What are our challenges? First of all, we should do everything for the conflict to further exacerbate in social networks. But we should not use the Armenian nicknames. It is necessary for no one to reproach us for exacerbating the situation. We should write offensive comments on behalf of the two sides of the confrontation. We should coordinate our actions. We will reach success in case of a new clash. But in any case, our primary task is to sow the seeds of hatred and discord. A conflict with the use of arms occurred in "Neolith" cafe in Moscow on Feb. 14. The police came to the scene of the accident and detained 18 people. Presumably, the Chechens were involved in the incident. According to the eyewitnesses, the crowd broke into the cafe in the evening. Earlier, Chief of Moscows Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry, Lieutenant-General of Police Oleg Baranov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu and representative of the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry, Major-General of Police Akbar Yusifov said that the situation is fully controlled by the city authorities and the police and all necessary measures will be taken. During the meeting, the sides stressed that the information about the death of 4-6 people disseminated on the internet is false. A request was voiced not to succumb to such provocations in social networks which pursue the sole purpose of creating an atmosphere of hostility and discord. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 22 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 17, 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 Fars news agency report which has been later retracted, said 14 members of the Iranian Parliament (Majles) have tabled a motion to impeach President Hassan Rouhani. Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Iranian Judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Sunday February 17 that an indictment has been issued against the president's brother Hossein Fereydoun, and he has to attend the first court hearing soon. The President's brother was briefly jailed on the charges of financial corruption last year, but was released on bail for medical reasons. The two developments appear to be parts of yet another onslaught by Iran's hardline conservatives against the country's moderate conservative president. The attacks on Rouhani are taking place at a time when political fragmentation in Iran and international pressures on the country have escalated in recent weeks following a conference in Warsaw and Munich. Most speakers, including dozens of chief diplomats and political figures from Europe and the United states, at both events condemned Iran for its military ambitions including its ballistic missile program and its support for militants. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), hardline MP for Qom Mojtaba Zolnour, has been collecting signatures at the Majles in support of presidents impeachment. The motion accuses the Rouhani administration of inefficiency in 14 different areas including "failure to tackle unemployment, mismanagement in controlling the forex market, doing harm to national interests, and failure to control prices." A similar motion had been tabled last year, but MPS, were encouraged to give up the idea of impeachment, reportedly by the office of the Supreme Leader. Entekhab news website, which is close to the Rounahi camp, says the motion has been signed by only 9 members of parliament and that one conservative fraction in Majles is also against the motion. According to Article 2 of Chapter 89 of the Iranian constitutional Law, "If at least one-third of the members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly [Majles] question the President of the Republic in his capacity as head of the executive power and the nations administration, the president must attend the Assembly within a month and give sufficient explanation with regard to the issues. After hearing the members who are for or against the responses of the president, if a two-thirds majority of the members vote for the presidents lack of competence", the result of the vote will be sent to the Supreme leader, ostensibly for him to give his agreement to impeachment. So, nearly 200 out of a total of 290 MPs need to sign Zolnour's impeachment motion if the move toward an impeachment is to begin. The votes of confidence given to Rouhani's ministers during the past year show that around 140 MPs tend to support Rouhani. Therefore, it is hardly likely that the motion would go any further unless a majority of the MPs get a clear green light from Khamenei to lash out at Rouhani. There is no reason to believe that Khamenei would do so at this time, when both internally and externally Iran is under pressure. Of course, there might another way of looking at this. The situation for Khamenei is so tough that he needs a victim to be named as the culprit for the country's multiple problems. However, he is probably aware that naming a scapegoat might keep everyone busy for a few weeks, but it most certainly will not solve the complicated and structural issues the country faces. It is also possible that bringing up impeachment at this time could be a signal from Iran to the West and particularly Europe that if they fail to support the Rouhani administration, hardliners are likely to take over and will eliminate the chance of any rapprochement with Iran in the foreseeable future. What makes this argument less than solid, is that during the past year, following the arrest of Rouhani's brother and the nationwide protests that shook the regime, the presidents rhetoric has not been too different from the hardliners, so Europeans might need a stronger argument to cling onto in order help Iran out of its problems. This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going. Lagarde met with former Ukrainian Prime Minister and one of candidates running for president in Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko in Munich, Germany. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Saturday urged Ukraine to forge ahead with deeper structural reforms needed to achieve stronger economic growth. Lagarde made the comments in a statement issued after meeting with former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Munich, Germany, Reuters said. Read alsoIMF sees no significant progress in fight against corruption in Ukraine The IMF approved a new $3.9 billion stand-by aid agreement for Ukraine in December to help maintain stability. "I highlighted the urgency for Ukraine to safeguard the gains made in restoring macroeconomic stability and to press ahead with the deeper structural reforms needed to achieve stronger economic growth and improve peoples living standards in a sustainable manner," Lagarde said. U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaks at the annual Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany February 15, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Andreas Gebert Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Saturday he had not yet determined whether a border wall with Mexico was a military necessity. President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border without congressional approval. A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Shanahan was likely to approve the $3.6 billion being redirected from the military construction budget. By declaring a national emergency, Trump can use certain Department of Defense funding to build the wall. According to the law, the defense secretary has to decide whether the wall is militarily necessary before money from the military construction budget can be used. "We always anticipated that this would create a lot of attention and since moneys potentially could be redirected, you can imagine the concern this generates," Shanahan told reporters traveling back with him from his trip to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe. "Very deliberately, we have not made any decisions, we have identified the steps we would take to make those decisions," Shanahan said. He added that military planners had done the initial analysis and he would start reviewing it on Sunday. Officials have said that the administration had found nearly $7 billion to reallocate to the wall, including about $3.6 billion from the military construction budget and $2.5 billion from a Defense Department drug interdiction fund. The U.S. defense official said Shanahan would meet with the service secretaries in the coming days to pick which specific projects the money should come from. Shanahan said that planners had identified the different sources of money that could be used, but he had not decided specifically what projects it would impact and ultimately it was his decision. "I am not required to do anything," he said. Shanahan said he did not expect to take money away from projects like military housing. Poor standards of military housing were highlighted by recent Reuters reporting, which described rampant mold and pest infestations, childhood lead poisoning, and service families often powerless to challenge private landlords in business with their military employers. "Military housing, whats been interesting- Ive received a number of letters, Ive had lots of feedback, do not jeopardize projects that are underway," Shanahan said. "As we step our way through the process well use good judgment," Shanahan said. The Republican presidents move, circumventing Congress, seeks to make good on a 2016 presidential campaign pledge to build a border wall that Trump insists is necessary to curtail illegal immigration. Within hours, the action was challenged in a lawsuit filed on behalf of three Texas landowners. "We are following the law, using the rules and were not bending the rules," Shanahan said. Vietnam to relocate 300 residents near US air base for dioxin cleanup Work has been started in 2012 to decontaminate dioxin at Bien Hoa airport, a former American airbase in Vietnam's southern province of Dong Nai. Photo by VnExpress/Phuoc Tuan 75 families living near the Bien Hoa military airport, former American airbase and dioxin hotspot, will be resettled for cleanup work. Dong Nai Province, where the dioxin hotspot is located, is expected to implement the relocation plan involving 300 people this summer. "We have got the resettlement area ready and will start moving local households in June," said Vo Van Chanh, the provinces deputy chairman. The dioxin-infected land will be transferred to those in charge of the cleaning work early next year, he said. Visiting the site Friday, Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich said Vietnam should call for more financial aid and boost the cleaning process. Just 30 km (around 20 miles) from Ho Chi Minh City, Bien Hoa airport was a U.S. air force base during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The airport is believed to be the largest dioxin hotspot in Vietnam. Studies have found that more than 500,000 cubic meters of land at the airport, which Vietnam uses for military purposes, needs to be detoxified. In 2012, with funding from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility, Vietnam implemented a project to prevent the spread of dioxin by building a regulating reservoir and canals and isolating an area of more than five hectares (12.4 acres) at the west side of the airport, with the amount of contaminated soil estimated at more than 70,000 cubic meters. Then, in September 2016, the Vietnamese government launched a VND270 billion ($11.88 million) dioxin cleanup campaign at the airport. The U.S. then announced its commitment to dioxin remediation efforts in the area, in anticipation of President Donald Trumps state visit to Vietnam in November, 2017. In May last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Air Defense Air Force Service under the Vietnamese Defense Ministry signed an agreement for a $390-million project for dioxin remediation at the airport, including nonrefundable aid of $189 million from the U.S. government and counter capital from the Vietnamese government. The campaign to decontaminate Bien Hoa is part of a bilateral cooperative effort that started in 2000 to resolve humanitarian and wartime legacies while continuing to strengthen economic, cultural and security ties. Between 1961 and 1971, the U.S. Army sprayed some 80 million liters of Agent Orange over 78,000 square kilometers (30,000 square miles) of southern Vietnam. Dioxin, a highly toxic chemical contained in the defoliant, stays in the soil and at the bottom of lakes and rivers for generations. It can enter the food chain through meat, fish and other animals, and has been found at alarmingly high levels in human breast milk. Between 2.1 to 4.8 million Vietnamese were directly exposed to Agent Orange and other chemicals that have been linked to cancers, birth defects and other chronic diseases before the war ended in April 1975, according to the Vietnam Red Cross. Lao man nabbed for trafficking 300 kg of meth in Vietnam Vietnamese police Sunday detained a Lao man and is hunting for other people involved in a central Vietnam drug trafficking ring. Vangchueyang Briachear was captured on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Ha Tinh Border Guards Vangchueyang Briachear, 25, was captured at 1 a.m. in a forest in the central province of Ha Tinh. The police found 294 kilograms of methamphetamine, divided into 278 packs in 12 bags. "At least one other man was involved in transporting the drugs. The police are searching for him in the forest," said Vo Tien Nghi, commander in chief of Ha Tinh Border Guards. The nationality of the second man is unknown. The drugs were contained in 12 bags. Photo courtesy of Ha Tinh Border Guards Briachear told the police that he entered Vietnam Saturday and stayed at a motel about 30 kilometers from the border with Laos to wait for the packages. He was caught soon after he received them. Drug trafficking and consumption have persisted and worsened in Vietnam of late, despite the country having some of the worlds toughest anti-drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600g of heroin or more than 2.5kg of methamphetamine face the death penalty in Vietnam. An aircraft flies over corn farm while landing at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo by Reuters/Kham Vietnam might find it difficult to maintain its aviation safety rating due to a lack of qualified personnel, experts caution. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Friday gave Vietnam a Category 1 safety rating, allowing local airlines to operate direct flights to the U.S. "Acquiring this rating is hard, keeping it is going to be even harder," Dinh Viet Thang, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), told VnExpress. He said that the CAAV currently has only 30 aviation safety officers, meeting only 30 percent of the demand. They hire the rest from other airlines. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has required that the CAAV has enough aviation safety officers on its own in upcoming years so that it doesnt need to hire people from outside, and CAAV plans to meet this goal by 2025. However, training these officers is costly, with an individual bill costing over VND5 billion ($216,000). One of the biggest hiring difficulties is that aviation safety officers are attracted by the higher salaries offered by airlines compared to state-owned companies, Thang said. An aviation safety officer at CAAV earns only VND10 million ($432) a month, while local airlines pay them about VND300 million ($12,960). "The government gives us VND20-30 billion ($864,000-1.29 million) each year to hire aviation safety officers and VND10 billion ($432,000) to train new ones, but we really need more investment from the government to develop this team," he noted. Another challenge is meeting FAA safety requirements as they conduct unannounced safety examinations. If Vietnam doesnt meet these requirements, FAA will downgrade the rating to Category 2, meaning no direct flight to the U.S. is allowed. This has happened before in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and most recently India, he said. Local airlines, including state-owned Vietnam Airlines, budget airline Vietjet and new private airline Bamboo Airways, have previously expressed interest in operating direct flights to the U.S. Vietnams aviation industry has been growing rapidly in recent years. There were 12.5 million air passengers last year, up 14.4 percent from 2017. The number of flights in the country grew by 16 percent on average between 2010 and 2017, according to official data. Vietnam growth model highly relevant for North Korea: US media Vietnams reforms could be what North Korea needs. Photo by Shutterstock/Efired A report by The Atlantic said that when Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet in Vietnam on February 27-28, the North Korean leader will be able to see what awaits his country if he decides to denuclearize. Vietnam today presents a vastly different image to the world compared to over 40 years ago, when the country stepped out of two long wars with France and the U.S. that had devastated its economy. Vietnam now celebrates American culture: Apples iPhones are sought-after, Facebook widely used and cinemas packed whenever a Hollywood blockbuster is released. By initiating economic reforms in 1986, Vietnam has become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Last year, the countrys GDP grew by 7.08 percent, highest in a decade, and its trade surplus reached a record-high of $7.2 billion. With the upcoming meeting in Hanoi, the White House appears to be trying to illustrate what is on offer if Kim cooperates: a country that fought a war against the U.S. but is now a fast-growing economy and a regional ally, The Atlantic said. Meanwhile, news channel CNBC commented that Vietnam and China are two communist governments that North Korea has long studied, as these countries have integrated into the world economy by successfully transforming from a centrally managed economic model to a market economy. Vietnam's gradual path to development appeals to Kim, ratings firm Fitch Solutions said in a January report. Hanoi has been open and maintains a "relationship-building" quality with the world that is likely to be "admired" by Pyongyang, the report said. In a recent trip to North Korea, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said that Vietnam was willing to share its experience in national development and international integration. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho had visited Hanoi last year, reportedly to study Vietnams reforms, according to South Korean Yonhap News Agency. Similar visits have been made before, including one in 2012 when a North Korean delegation visited the Vietnamese northern province of Thai Binh to study rural development. Vietnams reforms could be what North Korea needs as the country has been willing to experiment with reforms under Kim Jong-un, CNBC quoted Bradley Babson, who serves on the advisory council of the Korea Economic Institute of America, as saying. The lifting of sanctions, coupled with economic reforms and changes in national security policy and international relations, "could help put the North Korean economy on a path of stable growth and economic integration," Babson said. Vietnam's GDP grew by 6.18 percent on average each year in the 2008-2018 period. Its per capita GDP reached almost $2,590 last year. Dat Nguyen Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com Oh, and if you see me driving my red 2010 Mustang GT convertible, please wave. Hi, I am a retired newspaperman. I wrote 3 books on Trump and the media . I live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 43 years, Lou Ann. I grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather. WASHINGTON (AP) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has missed a month of Supreme Court arguments as she recovers from lung cancer surgery. But she's not the first justice to be away for a while and her absence hardly compares with those of some of her predecessors. The day before the Supreme Court began its term in October 1949, Justice William Douglas broke 14 ribs and suffered a punctured lung when he was thrown from his horse on a trail in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. He didn't return to the bench for nearly a half year, and his long recovery caused delays in several cases, including challenges to segregation. Like much of what goes on away from public view at the Supreme Court, how the justices deal with a colleague's absence can be opaque. The individual justice decides whether to rule on cases even if she has missed arguments. Indeed, Chief Justice John Roberts already has announced that Ginsburg is participating in the cases she missed. And only the justice can decide when an injury or illness is so severe that retirement is the only option. A quarter century after his riding accident, Douglas suffered a serious stroke, but refused to retire for months. His weakened state caused a backlog in the court's work and the other justices refused to issues decisions in cases where Douglas had provided the fifth, majority-making vote. "There aren't any rules about this and so much is left to the individual justice," said Erwin Chemerinsky, who argued a case during Ginsburg's absence. The 85-year-old Ginsburg could be back on the bench when the court next meets on Tuesday, and even as she has been away, she has not missed any votes. In some state court systems, including California, the highest court can essentially borrow a judge from a lower court to temporarily replace an absent member, said Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley. The Supreme Court has no similar arrangement. The nine justices are there for as long as they wish, and neither a retired justice nor an appellate judge can fill a void. The 25th Amendment to the Constitution sets out what happens if a president is incapacitated, but refuses to relinquish power. In Congress, the absence of a single lawmaker is not likely to make a lasting difference, while the absence of a single justice on the nine-member court can be significant. Also, elected officials have terms of office that last six years at most, in the case of senators. The most recent example of a justice missing substantial time was in 2004 and 2005, when Chief Justice William Rehnquist was suffering from thyroid cancer and was not on the bench for 44 arguments over five months. Justice John Paul Stevens, the longest-serving justice at the time, presided when Rehnquist was away, except for the day in late February 2005 when Stevens' flight from Florida was canceled and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ran the show. Still, Rehnquist voted in most of the cases for which he did not attend the arguments. He returned to the court in late March and made it through the end of the court's term in late June before dying on Sept. 3 at the age of 80. Douglas' accident occurred in steep terrain more than a mile above sea level, just after he stopped to adjust the girth on his horse's saddle. He fell an estimated 50 feet down a rocky hillside where his boyhood friend and riding partner, Elon Gilbert, found him lying on a ledge, according to The Associated Press' report from the time. Douglas, then 50, was a noted outdoorsman who hiked and rode extensively. While he recuperated, he was photographed in his hospital bed and then astride a horse when he took his first ride after the accident. There's a suggestion in news accounts that the other justices were irritated by the length of his absence. He came back to the court in time to hear Thurgood Marshall argue that Texas' refusal to accommodate a black student in its whites-only law school was unconstitutional. Marshall, then the nation's most prominent civil rights lawyer, prevailed in a unanimous decision. Douglas already had become the court's longest-serving justice by the time of his stroke on the last day of 1974. Though unable to walk and generally weakened by the stroke, Douglas refused to retire. Because of his illness, the court ordered a new round of arguments in eight cases in the spring of 1975, an unusually large number. "They agreed to take away his vote because they thought he was incompetent," historian David Garrow said. When the new term began that October, Douglas was still on the court. At arguments, Douglas "had moments of lucidity and energy followed by near incoherence and sleep," authors Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong wrote in "The Brethren," their book about the court. By November, Douglas had had enough and reluctantly submitted his resignation after more than 36 years as a justice. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The US president Donald Trump on 15th February 2019 had declared a national emergency to fund the US-Mexico border without congressional approval. This step has been described by the Democrats as unconstitutional and they have vowed to challenge it. What is the National Emergency in the USA? The United States can be subjected to more than 30 national emergencies and can be declared for various reasons. The National Emergencies Act (NEA) 1976 formalizes the emergencies powers of the President. The Act empowers the President to activate special powers during a crisis but imposes certain procedural formalities when invoking such powers. Since 1976, presidents have declared at least 58 states of emergency. Most of them were under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act which allows the president to impose economic sanctions. Why did President Trump Declare National Emergency? President Trump had promised to construct a wall along the USA-Mexico border to stop illegal migration if voted to power. This requires fencing of 322 km which costs about $ 5.7 billion. The proposal was rejected by the US Congress and the country went into a 35-day partial government shutdown. However, Congress passed a compromise bill providing President Trump with a mere $1.4 billion for a barrier along 90 kilometres of the border . The declaration of the National emergency by President Trump would enable him to divert money from elsewhere from the federal budget, including funds for the U.S. military for the purpose of the construction of the wall along the border. Consequence of the National Emergency President Trump is expected to face many legal and political challenges. Two lawsuits have already been filed against the National emergency. US Congress can also terminate a declared emergency by passing a joint resolution which is a difficult task. The Democrats in power at the House of Representatives will have to convince the Republicans who control the Senate to join them in blocking the National Emergency. Then they would have to get a signature from the President himself who has declared the emergency. Need proof? Read a report by the National Association of Scholars on the state of civics education in U.S. public schools. An analysis of the 525-page document on thefederalist.com found that even in places where civics education remains, it is being transformed into a political machine to push left-wing causes, undermine American government and incite civil unrest. ... The New Civics uses attractive, bipartisan-sounding works like civics and service learning to trick Americans and their representatives into allowing progressive political machinery to hijack public funds and young minds. The left used to mask their agenda for fear of backlash. Now they are open about their views. The response should go beyond ridicule. What we need is pushback that contains scientific, economic and political arguments and supplants feelings with facts. Want more proof that failed liberal policies never produce a change of direction, but a doubling down on discredited ideas? A task force created by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposes giving some Chicago families $1,000 per month with no strings attached. The idea is to break the cycle of poverty, but that assumes recipients use taxpayer money wisely. Im sure a guaranteed check for doing nothing will be all the incentive some need to liberate themselves from an addiction to government. It has worked so well at the federal level, hasnt it? Several Democratic presidential candidates support the Green New Deal, though it reeks of communism. After the ridicule, opponents had better find a way to communicate the truth, or we risk becoming another Venezuela. This year marks Cal Thomas 35th year as a syndicated columnist. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 You can volunteer. Lots of organizations need assistance and will treasure your help. The Little Sisters of the Poor in Pittsburghs North Side is one of many amazing groups that will never turn down willing volunteers. The truth about kindness is that it benefits those who practice it as much as, or more than, those who receive it. One of my favorite diners is frequented by older individuals who get tired of cooking for themselves and eating alone. Among them are widows, widowers and many proud veterans, some in wheelchairs. Id like to pull the waitress aside and pay for a proud veterans meal without the proud veteran knowing that Im paying for it. Id be sure to leave the waitress a nice tip while Im at it. Try to tell me that this wouldnt be the most joyful 20 bucks Id ever spend! Theres a saying widely attributed to Mark Twain. It says that kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Kindness is contagious, after all. It brings out the best in us. When someone does something kind for you, arent you inspired to do something kind for someone else? Hed give the shirt off his back to help anybody in this courtroom, one of Andersons cousins testified. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} He was the guy that did everything for us, said another cousin, recounting how Anderson had supported her after she became pregnant. Testimony Andersons girlfriend, who testified that Anderson has been with her since October of 2012, described him as a great man who sought out a role as a stepfather to the children she had before meeting him. Palermo also presented extensive expert testimony from Louise Luck, a mitigation specialist who researches and assesses convicts backgrounds for attorneys and parole and probation boards. Luck detailed what she described as an extremely adverse childhood; circumstances outside of Andersons control that may have nevertheless led him down a path of criminal behavior. Anderson exhibited one of the highest ratings Luck has ever seen, she said, on assessments used by state and federal agencies to predict violent or criminal behavior later in life based on upbringing. Dickinson College will host a panel that will discuss issues surrounding homelessness in south-central Pennsylvania and their efforts to find solutions. Unveiling America: Addressing Issues of Contemporary Homelessness will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 28, at the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 360 W. Louther St. This event is free and open to the public. Panelists for the event include Christina Kapp, Beth Kempf, Scott K. Shewell and Tim Whelan. Kapp is the coordinated entry regional manager for the Central Valley Regional Homeless Advisory Board and vice president of the Cumberland-Perry Local Housing Options Team. Kempf is the executive director of Community CARES, which provides shelter to about 70 men, women and children each night in Carlisle. Shewell is the president and CEO of Safe Harbour, which provides housing and services for people who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness. Whelan is the executive director of the Cumberland County Housing and Redevelopment Authorities. The two organizations lead operations of rental assistance programs in Cumberland and Perry counties; operation of public housing programs; development and management of multifamily, special needs and homeless housing programs; community development and/or redevelopment activities and programs. My concern is the pendulum has swung too far toward a stage of punitive measures, she said. Studies show that behavior that once led to a trip to the principals office and detention . . . now leads to suspension, expulsion or even arrest. Leaders of the Lincoln YWCA, the Malone Community Center and retired educator Jake Kirkland all spoke in support of LB390. I am a retired educator with over 40 years in the educational system in Nebraska. Im also an African-American male that is very much aware of whats going on in our school system, particularly as it impacts students of color. People of color had little say in the move to add more school resource officers, he said. Many of us disliked it, especially if you were a person of color. You knew how the relationship or lack thereof existed between students of color and our law enforcement system, he said. Pansing Brooks bill is a starting point, he said, and his biggest concern is ensuring someone is in charge of making sure the requirements of the bill get done. Greg Gonzalez, deputy chief with the Omaha Police Department, also spoke in favor of LB390. Paul Lewis Over 31 West Indies young writer has written of these things It is 2019 but five years ago I cited Joani and Thom Schultz the co-authors of the book: Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore? Their research is challenging. Steve McSwain is not so sure and give pointers to why this is not necessarily so. The core basis of the Schultz' hypothesis apart from statistics and data is that of the experiences of most churches in America, and thereby happening in Britain, Australia and other western nation religious life. And what is this experience that most churches are having to encounter. In a word, 'fed up'! (two words sorry). I am now updating the responses. The facts are pretty clear and the test is at grass roots level. It relates to men. These fellows have grown up in the life of the local church. They became a Christian during their teenage years. Well versed in the Word. A handsome giver to the finances and mission needs. More than likely a bit of a leader, well at least he's always around and he's solid. One day he woke up and was 'fed up' there was no typical internal church dispute going on, he had no intention of moving church, but after what seemed a life time in 'a rut' of religion he needed 'out'. Kandima Awendila a Mozambique Over 31s young writer has written of these things The question of a trend Joani and Thom Schultz says it's a trend. Steve McSwain says it's not. McSwain says there are a host of other reasons and these can be easily countered by better leadership and he lists these as proof pudding from many church situations. The Schutz' disagree and cite a host of grass root situations that illustrate all to readily that simply being 'fed up' takes an enormous toll on church life right across Protestant America. Perhaps it is a little of both. In 2019 - is there a trend? Or has there always been this dichotomy with numbers of men who have established themselves in the life of churches and simply need a sabbatical which in many cases, goes on for several years. These men have not in any way abandoned their Christian commitment or faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That would be a false connotation. Come the census form they would fill it in as before. Rosie Robinson Over 31 English young writer has written of these things Josh Packard Sociologist Josh Packard web page - "area of research and teaching-sociology of health, religion, and education-are tied together with theoretical interests in communities and inequality. He has an active and applied research agenda relying on university-community partnerships ..." Josh Packard has explained that this 'fed up' group are discussed in his upcoming book Church Refugees. They have sat through countless sermons and Bible studies, they feel they've heard it all. One of Packard's interviewees said, "I'm tired of being lectured to. I'm just done with having some guy tell me what to do." They are fatigued with the Sunday routine. Rather, it's play time. To counter this, ministers and other ministry leaders (think Missions and Para-Church) would benefit from asking and listening to these men long before they walk out the door. The Josh Packard questions: Why are you a part of this church? What keeps you here? Have you ever contemplated stepping away from church? Why or why not? How would you describe your relationship with God right now? How has your relationship with God changed over the past few years? What effect, if any, has our church had on your relationship with God? What would need to change here to help you grow more toward Jesus' call to love God and love others? It's time to listen. Steve McSwain Steve McSwain says churches are not dying, they are going through transition and fall-out is part of any change. He lists these as being central to transition: demography, technology, leadership, competition, religious pluralism, contemporary worship experiences, phoney marketing and doesn't that one ring true. After 42 years in Christian ministry, I am inclined to add my weight to Steve McSwain's propositions, as although many men get 'fed up' it is a transition in itself and they won't hold back any of their family members from engaging in the Christian life and the life of whatever local church they are engaged. Leadership seems to be at the centre of such issues. For young people drop outs, fresh research is showing that it's not their own faith, rather the pressure of their parents. This is a good read! Josh Robbie Over 31 South African young writer has written of these things Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand. Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html (Photo: CBS/The Late Show With Stephen Colbert) Chris Pratt talks to Stephen Colbert about the Daniel Fast Pastor Brian Houston praised actor Chris Pratt for his "bold faith in Jesus" as he endured public attacks from actor Ellen Page for going to church. The Sydney Australia-based Hillsong megachurch, which is attended by a number of celebrities including Justin Bieber, Kevin Durant and Selena Gomez, found itself at the center of a media firestorm after Page publicly accused Pratt's church of being "infamously anti LGBTQ." After Pratt responded and explained that his personal values represent him, not his church affiliation, a number of outlets including Variety, CNN, and NBC reported that the church in question was none other than Hillsong, which has several campuses across the U.S. But in a series of tweets on Thursday, Houston, who with his wife, Bobbie, founded the megachurch in 1983, attempted to correct and clarify the mainstream media's false reports. "The weird thing about all the media regarding Chris Pratt and Hillsong Church is that it's built on a falsehood," he tweeted. "I am so grateful for Chris's bold faith in Jesus. But he is not now, and never has been a member of Hillsong Church." Houston further addressed misinformation reported by the media, including the fact that Hillsong supports gay conversion therapy: "It is completely false that Hillsong Church practice, recommend, or suggest 'gay conversion therapy' to anyone. I have always been a vocal opponent in fact. Again, it's built on a false narrative," he tweeted. The pastor went on to share a statement from Hillsong Church, which explained that the church "does not preach against anyone or any group" and is "not 'anti-anyone.'" "We are an inclusive Christian church that loves, values and welcomes all people, regardless of their background, ethnicity, beliefs, values, or personal identity," reads the statement. "We are also a church that adheres to mainstream biblical values shared by the overwhelming majority of evangelical Christian churches around the world, and millions of Christians across the USA," it continues. "Believing the teachings of the Bible and loving all people including those who have different perspectives are not mutually exclusive. In fact this is the very definition of tolerance and inclusiveness." The statement concludes by declaring that Hillsong, which received backlash in 2015 after its leadership called homosexuality a sin, wants to be known "by who we are for." "We are for people finding hope in Jesus, we are for people finding love and acceptance, and we are for helping people in any way we can. Our focus is on pointing people to Jesus as 'the way, the truth, and the life.'" Pratt, along with his fiancee Katherine Schwarzenegger, attends Pastor Chad Veach's Zoe Church in Los Angeles. Following Page's comments, the actor posted a response on his Instagram story explaining how much the church was supportive of him during his divorce from Anna Faris. "It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of people' and is 'infamously anti-LGBTQ.' Nothing could be further from the truth," he wrote. "I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone. Despite what the Bible says about divorce, my church community was there for me every stop [sic] of the way, never judging, just gracefully accompanying me on my walk. They helped me tremendously offering love and support. It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender." The "Lego Movie 2" star also shared a Bible verse from John 13:34 in the post. "Jesus said 'I give you a new command, love one another,'" he wrote. "This is what guides me in my life. He is a God of Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness. Hate has no place in my or this world." (Photo: Instagram/Chris Pratt) Chris Pratt's response in full Courtesy of The Christian Post The response of anti-Obama zealots was both immediate and rageful. An organized and well-funded uprising against Obamacare arose. Tea party members showed up at listening sessions, papers in hand with the latest Internet rumors, angrily confronting officials with characterizations of the proposal as ugly as they were false. Sarah Palin, less than a year after serving as GOP vice presidential nominee, led the disinformation campaign. In an August 2009 Facebook post, she thundered: And who will suffer the most when they ration care? . The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obamas death panel so his bureaucrats can decide whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil. Three days later, Politifact declared this post the lie of the year. Democrats held together to pass the Affordable Care Act. The percentage of uninsured Americans dropped, by the end of Obamas second term, from 16 percent to 11 percent. The falsehoods, unfortunately, had huge political impact. The 2010 mid-terms drew the votes of many who believed the anti-ACA propaganda, and swept in a host of anti-ACA congressmen. Moderate Republicans were pushed out of the GOP. Tea party rage became the dominant tone of the Republican Party, and remains so to this day. Portuguese paratroopers faced off with a rebel militia in the Central African Republic earlier this month in a major operation that included 50 hours of combat and the seizure of the militants base. Footage of the incident, provided to Euronews by the Portuguese armed forces, shows how the battle unfolded between the paratroopers, operating under the United Nations peacekeeping mission, and members of the rebel UPC (Union for Peace in the Central African Republic) earlier this month. The UPC is a former member of the Seleka rebel alliance, a coalition of mainly Muslim groups that seized power in the majority Christian CAR in 2013, plunging the country into turmoil. The battle with the Portuguese paratroopers on January 10 began after the UPC launched a violent attack on the town of Bambari, some 400 kilometres from the capital Bangui, in a bid to seize resources and extort the local population by collecting taxes. The offensive by this armed group was carried out with heavy weaponry placing civilians in the crossfire during the confrontation with the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), Portugals Armed Forces General Staff said in a statement. The armed forces said the paratroopers got involved in the hope of "protecting civilians and restoring peace. Following the action, the paratroopers on January 12 and 13 turned their attention to the UPCs base in Bokolobo. On their way to the area, the footage captured an attempted ambush on the UN forces by the UPC. In Bokolobo, the two sides engaged in further fighting before the Portuguese paratroopers destroyed the UPCs headquarters, checkpoints and barricades, and seized a number of weapons, in scenes captured on camera. The Portuguese armed forces declared the operation a success, saying there were no casualties on their side. Long-awaited African Union-brokered peace talks between armed groups and the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadera are scheduled to take place on January 24. You can watch the operation by clicking on the player above. Last month Brazil's newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree making it easier for citizens to keep a gun at home. Bolsonaro was fulfilling a campaign promise but in a country plagued with one of the worlds highest murder rates, the move has been criticized. A recent survey showed 61% of Brazilians were in favour of banning civilian gun ownership. Are we a violent country? Yes. But were not going to solve the problem with people with guns. We need tougher laws, an individual at a shooting club in Sao Paulo told Euronews. Yet, many welcome the change: I think legalizing gun possession will help decrease violence, not increase it. "Criminals will think twice before breaking into your home, said another Brazilian. One young couple just signed up for gun training at the Sao Paulo gun club. I like it, its exciting! the woman told Euronews. Brazil holds an infamous record of 63,880 intentional violent deaths a year. Under the new legislation, people living in states with a homicide rate above 10 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants will be eligible to keep a gun at home. This would currently apply to the entire Brazilian territory. People in northern regions often hear about risks associated with a lack of vitamin D, or the sunshine vitamin, such as depression and muscle weakness. Now new research suggests that for newborn babies, a lack of vitamin D could also mean a greater risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. The study published in Scientific Reports found that newborns with vitamin D deficiency in Denmark had a 44 per cent greater risk of being diagnosed with schizophrenia as adults when compared with people of the same age and sex born with regular vitamin D levels. Lead author John McGrath, a psychiatrist and professor at Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Queensland in Australia, noted that while the study found an association between vitamin D deficiency and schizophrenia, it doesn't prove cause and effect. "Schizophrenia is a pretty serious group of disorders, it's very poorly understood and affects about one in 100 people," he said. McGrath explained there are a number of possible causes of schizophrenia, including genetic and environmental factors. The study's results indicate that a vitamin D deficiency could account for around eight per cent of all schizophrenia cases in Denmark. Shutterstock McGrath said researchers looked at vitamin D as a risk factor because previous research has shown that people born in the winter or spring, and those living in northern countries, particularly dark-skinned migrants, have an increased risk of schizophrenia. "They were the clues, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, that made us follow up this line of research." The study's findings were based on analysis of random blood samples taken from 2,602 Danish babies born between 1981 and 2000. The large scale case-control study builds on a smaller one done in 2010 that also found a link between vitamin D deficiency and schizophrenia. McGrath said they are now planning on replicating the study with 80,000 neonatal blood samples from Denmark, which he expects to be complete in about two years. Story continues Vitamin D supplements McGrath says the findings imply that some cases of schizophrenia could be prevented through vitamin D supplementation. He noted that supplements have been effective at preventing other disorders like folate acid for spina bifida. "This is an example where a safe simple cheap vitamin supplement has been able to prevent a very serious disorder of brain development." Dr. Kami Kandola, chief public health officer for the Northwest Territories, says vitamin D supplements have been recommended for nursing pregnant mothers and young children in the territory since November 2014. "We have a lot more risk factors in the North to put us at risk of vitamin D deficiency, so this is a talk that health care providers should be having with their pregnant moms and also nursing moms," she said. Kandola recommends that all nursing mothers and children under three years of age in the territory take a daily vitamin D supplement of 800 IU (international units). The one exception to this, Kandola said, are babies who are formula-fed as vitamin D is added to infant formula. She recommends that children who drink formula take a daily vitamin D supplement of 400 IU. Vitamin D supplements are covered under the territory's Non-Insured Health Benefits program. Public relations firm Edelman says it's suspending its consulting arrangement with former B.C. premier and former high commissioner to the U.K. Gordon Campbell pending a British police investigation. The firm says it hired Campbell on a retainer as a part-time consultant in July 2018. "In light of the recent allegations, Edelman and Mr. Campbell have mutually decided to suspend their consulting arrangement until the police investigation in the U.K. is complete," Edelman said in a written statement. Campbell is the subject of a sexual assault investigation related to his time as Canada's senior diplomat in the U.K., where he was high commissioner from 2011 to 2016, according to a report in The Telegraph. The CBC has not been able to independently verify details reported in the British newspaper. Canadian Press Scotland Yard will only confirm that police in Westminster in central London are investigating an allegation of sexual assault that occurred in January 2013. A spokesperson with the Metropolitan Police Service said in an email that a 54-year-old woman contacted police on Jan. 3, 2019, and alleged she had been sexually assaulted at an address in Grosvenor Square. No arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing, the spokesperson said. The newspaper quotes a spokesperson for Campbell saying there was an investigation at the time by the government of Canada and the complaint was found to be without merit. (Reuters) - U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller disclosed for the first time on Friday that his office has evidence of communications between Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, and WikiLeaks related to the release of hacked Democratic Party emails. In a court filing on Friday, Mueller's office said it had gathered that evidence in a separate probe into Russian intelligence officers who were charged by Mueller of hacking the emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and staging their release. In an email criticizing media coverage of Mueller's filing on Friday, Stone said the evidence was "innocuous Twitter direct messages" that have already been disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee and "prove absolutely nothing". Stone was indicted last month for lying to Congress about his communications with others about the hacked emails. Mueller did not say at the time that he had evidence of communications with WikiLeaks. Stone, an ally of Trump for 40 years, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Stone has previously acknowledged brief exchanges with both WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 but maintains he never had advance knowledge about the release of hacked emails. But Friday marked the first time Mueller indicated he had obtained related evidence, although it remained unclear if the evidence is more substantial than what is publicly known. "The government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release," Mueller's team wrote in a filing to the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. "Several of those search warrants were executed on accounts that contained Stone's communications with Guccifer 2.0 and with Organization 1." Organization 1 is a reference to WikiLeaks, while Guccifer 2.0 is a hacker persona U.S. intelligence agencies say was a cover name used by Russian military intelligence. WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 each published emails and other documents from the Democratic Party in 2016 in an operation that Mueller alleges was part of a Kremlin-backed effort to tip the election in favor of then Republican nominee Trump. WikiLeaks has previously denied any ties to or cooperation with Russia. (Reporting by Nathan Layne in Washington and Mark Hosenball in London; editing by Diane Craft) "If I hadn't gone to Newfoundland, I never would have gotten into radio," says Annie McEwen, a producer at Radiolab, the popular American radio series and podcast. McEwen, originally from Dunrobin, Ontario, moved to St. John's in 2009 for the folklore master's program at Memorial University, and stayed for six years. As part of her studies at Memorial, she took a course in radio documentary, taught by internationally acclaimed local radio producer Chris Brookes of Battery Radio. It was then that McEwen got hooked on audio storytelling. 'I'm in love!' "Oh my God, this is amazing! This is it I'm in love!" said McEwen of her exposure to radio documentary. McEwen completed her degree at Memorial, working with and learning from Chris Brookes at Battery Radio as much as she could. "Chris was so good at being gently encouraging to me," said McEwen. "He would apply for grants to make these amazing audio projects, and he would invite me to work with him on them," she continued. 'I was so lucky to have Chris Brookes as a mentor.' - Annie McEwen, Producer, Radiolab "I was just so lucky to have him as a mentor." A surprise break McEwen went on to hone her skills in radio documentaries and sound art at the Transom Story Workshop in Massachusetts. She continued to build her resume through freelance audio projects. Then, about three years ago, McEwen got a surprise offer. "I was actually up in Cochrane, Ontario with a theatre group, on a lunch break and I was eating an egg sandwich on the side of the road," recalled McEwen. "I decided to check Twitter on my phone, and I saw that the manager at Radiolab had sort of out-of-the-blue asked me, 'Hey, do you want to come down and try out working [with us]?" Prestige audio Radiolab is a program run by WNYC Public Radio in New York City. It has about 10 million monthly listeners worldwide on public radio, including CBC Radio, and through its podcast. Story continues The program has received many accolades, including multiple Peabody Awards, and its co-creator, Jad Abumrad, received a prestigious 2011 MacArthur Genius grant. wnycstudios.org On its website, Radiolab describes itself as a show that is "investigating a strange world," and makes science accessible to large audiences. "We look into anything that we're curious about," said McEwen. Distinctive sound McEwen has been working at Radiolab's office in downtown Manhattan for about three years. McEwen said that the production sound of Radiolab is distinctive, with a unique rhythm to its storytelling style. "When we're making the story, we start with the music in the first draft," said McEwen. McEwen said she works on a wide variety of stories, including one exploring the question of what Neanderthals sounded like, and another on an unusual polar bear shot by an Inuk hunter in northern Canada. Listen to Heather Barrett's report from Weekend AM St. John's, the ideal launchpad McEwen said she highly recommends St. John's as a place for young people trying to figure out what to do with their lives. "It's not expensive to live there. It is so supportive of the arts," said McEwen. "So if you're someone who's finished school, and you're wandering around and you're feeling that you may be a bit of an artist ... It's a community that supports people with these dreams," she said. "Without that, I would never, ever have gotten to where I am." Subscribe to the Weekend AM Podcast B.C. couple were victims of acid attack in Vietnam, according to friend A Vancouver area couple has been injured in an acid attack while on vacation in Vietnam, according to a close friend of the pair. Cecelia Tran said Tram Nguyen, who goes by Tammy, and her boyfriend Nghiem Vo, who goes by Tom, were in Quang Mai, Vietnam just east of Ho Chi Minh City, to visit Vo's family on Feb. 9. The Surrey, B.C. couple, who are both aged 26, were headed to a Lunar New Year's family gathering when two men attacked the pair. Tran said the men attacked Vo with a knife and threw acid at both of them. Global Affairs Canada confirmed that Canadian Consular officials are in contact with local authorities in Vietnam, gathering information on a Canadian citizen who was injured there. "Tammy has burns on her inner thigh, neck, shoulder, hand, leg and some on her face," said Tran in a written message. "Tom is in intensive care [with] severe burns on his face and body. Stab wounds on both his legs and ankle." Both are in hospital in Thailand. "I'm not sure why or who would do this, because they are very nice people, very soft-spoken," said Tran. Global Affairs hasn't named the Canadian individual who was injured, but Tran said Nguyen is a Canadian citizen and Vo is a permanent resident. The Global Affairs statement said it would not release further details, citing the privacy laws. Adrien Martin was unemployed and felt like he was spinning his wheels, looking for an opportunity to find meaningful work in Saskatoon. He'd moved back to the city after working in Vancouver in video production, feeling like he'd maxed out his opportunities in that city and finding it too expensive to continue living there. "The thought of spending years and years in school before even starting an entry-level job wasn't really appealing to me," he said, noting he was 28 at the time and ready to find a career. He happened to learn about a ComIT a registered charity that offers short technology courses covering the basics of programming to underemployed or unemployed people and jumped on the opportunity to take a free three-month information technology (IT) training course in Saskatoon last year. After finishing the course, he was offered an entry-level position as a software developer with Saskatoon's Skip the Dishes office. "I feel a lot better. There's a lot of stuff I can do with my career now," he said. Submitted by Adrien Martin No restrictions, just a desire to work in IT Pablo Listingart is the founder and executive director of ComIT. He had spent time working for companies like IBM and Microsoft, but wanted to help those who are unemployed or underemployed find work in the technology sector. It struck him as a particular issue for some newcomers to the country. "They are left out from society because they have survival jobs or no jobs," he said. "They can't even think about getting a formal loan to have studies and have a career." After coming to Canada from Argentina, he formed the charity in 2016. Since that time, he has launched technology courses in Winnipeg, Kitchener and Saskatoon, with the costs covered by grants from private companies and governments. Last year's course in Saskatoon was supported by a $20,000 grant through Innovation Saskatchewan. Anyone can apply for the free training, but Listingart says he wants to help people who not only need the assistance, but who actually want a career in information technology. Story continues It's way beyond my dreams to be able to do this and help my country, because Canada is my country. - Pablo Listingart They'll get intensive training over three months, and the potential to work with tech firms. "We have over 80 people working in IT over the three provinces," Listingart said, adding it's "awesome" to see so many people reaching their potential in such a short time of offering the courses. "It's way beyond my dreams to be able to do this and help my country, because Canada is my country." He said he is working to secure further funding, and if successful, will be looking to offer three of the courses each year in Saskatoon and Regina. The next ComIT course will take place at Regina's Innovation Place, beginning in March. Martin said three months may seem like a short time, but it was enough to teach the fundamentals and connect him with an employer that was willing to train him further. "It really meant a lot, because it's a great opportunity to get started in a field that's full of opportunities." Immigration continues to be a hot-button topic, but for one venture capital firm, its a mission statement. Eveline Buchatskiy co-founded One Way Ventures with Semyon Dukach to invest solely in immigrant-run businesses. It was just such a no-brainer, one of those eureka moments you have, Buchatskiy says of coming up with the name for the firm. We are immigrants ourselves. We went through the process of buying that one-way ticket to America, knowing that there was no coming back. There was no plan B. Buchatskiy was born in Brazil and left to attend college in the United States, getting a degree in chemical engineering from University of California, Berkeley. An MBA program at INSEAD in France followed, then stints in Luxembourg and Ukraine, working as a managing partner for a tech accelerator and the CEO of cleantech firm APCT before she settled back in the U.S. to start One Way Ventures. Why immigrants are a good investment Buchatskiy explains that her firms mission statement is meant to prove a financial point: That immigrants are good for business, especially in startups. Her firm cites data that shows that while 25% of venture capital-backed startups in the U.S. are founded by immigrants, the share of unicorns startups valued at over $1 billion - with immigrants on the founding team is more than twice that of teams without immigrants. So what is it about immigrant founders? Buchatskiy has some theories. It's all about the attributes of the immigrant founder the grit, the determination, the ability to cope with change, and the fact that this founder took a big chance in coming to this country, she says. Eveline Buchatskiy, co-founder of One Way Ventures. Early successes While One Way Ventures has only been in business for a year, it has already seen some impressive success. We do have some portfolio companies that are growing like crazy, Buchatskiy says. Specifically, he mentioned Brex, which makes a credit card for startups and was founded by two Brazilian entrepreneurs who came to the U.S. when they were only 19. Story continues After just a couple of years of operation, the company has already reached a unicorn valuation of $1.1 billion, she says. The credit card is just the entry point, the initial product in their road map. But there's a lot more interesting stuff coming. Changing political climate There are drawbacks to the One Way business model, though, and shifting immigration policies in Washington have not made life easier. Visas are one of the obstacles, she says. Its a huge distraction. Buchatskiy and her team find themselves dealing with visa issues on a weekly basis, noting that things have changed dramatically for the worse. We are feeling the pain now, she says. The number of denials has just exploded. Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter. READ MORE WOMEN + MONEY: Opinion / Columnist We can all agree that Robert Mugabe has proven the "gods" wrong so many times, well at least according to the "prophets" that are awash on every street corner from Harare to Lilongwe. From one to the other the date of his death has been predicted, moved from month to month, year to year. What is most intriguing is that when a prophecy does come to pass, they rush to their archives and produce those videos as proof that papa was spot on, and yet when it does not come to pass, nothing of that sort happens.Tom Tirivangani, a Canada based preacher whose hugely publicised prophecies went south on more than enough occasions, spends most of his sermons explaining his prophecies that would have missed the spot. In his own words the word or prophecy of God is accurate and never misses. On 18 February and on 1 July 2018, the preacher prophesised in clear terms that Chamisa would win the 2018 elections. Heavily bruised from this false prophecy, towards the end of 2018 the preacher then prophesised that there would be protests and demonstrations in many parts of the world. Prophet Tom, in which year has there never been protests in many parts of the world? Without shame he then made noise counting a few protests in the month of January saying his prophecy is coming to pass. Really now? A young prophet married to a non-black wife, who says he is a son to Urbert Angel, prophesied that there would be drought during the 2016-2017 season in the country. Zimbabwe recorded some of the highest rainfalls in its history during that very same season.Without a doubt where there are false prophets out there it inversely means there are true prophets somewhere. The Bible gave a yardstick and guidance to the believers in that false prophets you will see them when their prophecies do not come to pass. However, this shall by no means be the only yardstick as the Bible itself warns that during the last days even the select will be deceived, and that false prophets will even make fire fall from the skies to earth (figurative to mean shocking miracles). This undoubtedly means there will be false prophets whose predictions will indeed come to pass. For one to foresee and foretell what is to come, a connection to the spiritual is all that is needed. Demons and occult powers are spiritual forces and can empower mortal men to foresee and foretell and so, just because a prediction has come to pass does not mean the prophet is a true prophet sent by God. The Bible urges the believers to pray for discernment and not be deceived.The most important question that begs a solid answer is why only when the country's economy started going south when the charismatic churches surged at an unprecedented rate. Every street corner in Johannesburg is littered with a church with a general seer prophet or prophet of prophets, usually a non-South African for that matter. School leavers during those golden old days went into the job market, pastors were mostly men and women of mature age. They prophesied without pomp and fanfare, preaching salvation, repentance, forgiveness, love and virtues of living in purity, exactly the virtues that the Bible teaches will prepare your way to Heaven. Make no mistake, the book of Joel in the Bible the Lord speaks saying during the last days He will pour His Spirit and young men and women shall prophesy. This therefore means ministry has absolutely nothing to do with age. The issue has always been that the papa movement came with its own of what many have come to know as prosperity gospel. There is nothing wrong with teaching people to lead comfortable lives, actually that is the advantage of following the God of Heaven and earth who owns all gold and pearls. In Psalms it says He is my "Shepherd and Provider, and I shall not want." God wants us to live comfortably, and be rich even. But let it not be the word that believers come to church to hear day in day out as if that is the A-Z to reach Heaven, riches do not take people to Heaven, in fact it is all vanity. Let it not seem like it is a sin to be poor. It is not. A crippled man who used to sit by the gate into the temple asked money from Peter and John as they went into the temple, but they replied to him, "silver and gold we do not have, but what we have we give you. In the name of Jesus, get up and walk." Silver and gold they did not have, but the power of God was with them.We have all seen the antics of how some congregants are led to drink petrol and eat human hair and grass, testifying that it tastes like chocolate. In all of their miracles, Jesus and the early apostles did them to meet a need. They did not do miracles just for the fun of it or boast about it. At times is it unfair to place all the blame on the papas alone as most of them are merely looking for a living like the rest of us in our jobs, the congregants themselves are to blame too. Without the congregants who give this demigod status to the papas, the papas would not have been able to exercise such demigod influence. The bandwagon and a scramble for a slice of the cake has been hijacked by all and sundry. Those papas who have not been blessed with the true gift of prediction, or been able to raise enough money to get powers from that famous sorcerer in Ghana, all chant in their Sunday sermons "I see some of you here getting promotions at work, some of you will get married, the Lord tells me some of you will buy houses," this whilst the congregants all shout "I receive papa." Even the dumbest mathematician can tell you that in a congregation of tens and hundreds of single people, unemployed people, people who are renting from landlords, the probability of some of them getting married, employed or buying their own houses is imminent. There is nothing prophetic about that. I would fancy that one day the congregants during such a sermon when the papa says, "some of you will get married," to ask him "which one of us papa and when exactly."Many would remember that TB Joshua prophesied that he sees a woman winning the US presidential election in 2016. To justify it when it did not come true, it was told that Hillary Clinton had indeed garnered more votes that Donald Trump. The problem with that narrative is that it presupposes that God does not know how the US election system works. God does not know that in America you win according to electoral colleges and not necessarily majority vote.Salute goes to the men and women out there, who have chosen to follow what the word of God says, and listened to His voice in their hearts, and chose to remain undeterred even though their churches have been left with less than 20 members after everyone has rushed to the papa churches for miracle money in their bank accounts. There are men and women who have known that people belong to God and one must not commit the serious mistake of leading them astray for personal gain and comfort. There are men and women out there who have remained believing that ministry is a personal devotion and commitment to the growth of the body of Christ and that all honour and glory must go to Him, and not to any individual. Remember how and why Herod died. One famous papa a few years ago during a church service prophesied to a Nigerian man that he is Yoruba, the man confirmed that he is indeed Yoruba then the congregants started clapping hands. The papa then immediately turned around in boastful mood and walked across the stage staring at cameras and declared, "I stand to be corrected, I stand to be corrected. But I think I am a major!" If indeed you prophesied with God's power, what then makes you a major as if it was your own power?There are men and women who have remained entrenched in their belief that ministry is not a service in which one goes when his own career or business ventures have failed, but one which a person answers a call from God, leaving everything and doing that which God has called him to do like Matthew and the rest of the disciples. The truth is that title does not matter at all in one's service to God and to adopt funny titles being adopted by preachers around these days is meaningless. There are men and women equally so, out there, who have remained entrenched in belief that God loves us all despite cultural demarcations and that the decision whether believers of another religion will enter Heaven or not is entirely to God. It is true that if one looks at the teachings of all the major religions, they teach more of less the same things; love, forgiveness, peace, devotion, alms giving, service and sacrifice. So are we then saying that God will disqualify those who enerstly exercised these virtues in their daily lives just because they belong to a different cultural method? Religion is a mere cultural method but relationship with God, salvation and entering Heaven, are a personal affair. That is what God will judge us on. Even papas are also busy hunting their own place in Heaven.To the believers, do not waste time arguing which prophet is true or not. Do not attack any of them especially if you do not know who is true and who is not. Some of them are doing God's work and indeed some of them are after fame, riches and women. Rather work on your relationship with God and practice the teachings of His word, He will show you where you should go and where you should not. As alluded above, as much as there are false prophets, there are true prophets out there. Rather keep quiet and work for your own salvation. That will save you precious time. Find a church that teaches salvation, and if you feel unsettled in your heart about your attendance to a certain church, most likely that is the voice of God telling you to move. Going to a church is good, in fact Jesus himself went to the synagogue on the appointed days. But for what it is worth, one must know why we go to church. It is not a show to parade new suits and latest fashion, or even spend time on Sunday. It is a place that provides that conducive environment to cry out to your Lord and grow your relationship with Him. It is an institution where youth camps and Easter camps to Gokwe or Kariba are organised. God will not disqualify you for Heaven because you did not attend the youth meeting in Mutare, that is congregation institutional business. God will not disqualify you for Heaven because you did not attend church meetings or pay subscription fees, that is institutional business. God will not disqualify you for Heaven because you did not speak in tongues, in fact tongues are simply a sign manifestation that the power of God is at work and that the gospel must be taken to all nations. Tongues are actually worldly languages and not the language of Heaven as we were made to believe growing up. If you look in your Bible, Acts 2 vs 1-12 you shall learn that tongues are actually world languages because the people who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecost asked amongst themselves how the disciples from Galilee could speak each of their native tongues/languages. Effectively, God was instructing the apostles to spread the gospel to all nations and that the gospel is not for the gentiles alone, God listens to all. God will not disqualify you for Heaven because you drank alcohol, it is not a sin. Jesus even changed water into wine at the wedding in Cana. However drinking to the extent of losing oneself in drunken stupor is a sin, Jesus himself warned against gluttony. Indeed the truth shall set free!You will qualify or be disqualified for Heaven as per your own relationship with God based on how you heeded His word, obeyed his commands and voice in your life every day. The Kingdom of God is not an event to say there it is coming; the Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Church must live within your heart and you daily life, not a Sunday place where you go to look for a good wife or just because mama taught you to go to church on Sundays. The pastor, prophet, papa, major prophet, emeritus prophet, general prophet, number 1 prophet, apostle, reverend, fire fire prophet, overseer prophet, prophet of prophets, will also account for his relationship before the Lord on Judgment Day.Robert Sigauke is a political and social commentator. He can be contacted on WhatsApp +27713348876. He writes from Cape Town. News / National by Staff reporter Zimbabwe should brace for more problems after the European Union (EU) Parliament proposed a fresh round of punitive sanctions this week against President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government, following a recent vicious crackdown against civilians by security forces.This comes as the United Kingdom (UK) - which had until recently worked tirelessly to help Zimbabwe end decades of its frosty relations with Western powers - has said it is no longer willing to support Harare because of the alleged human rights violations.It also comes as the EU is due to meet on Wednesday next week to review the sanctions which were slapped on ousted former president Robert Mugabe, his wife Grace and a few government officials who include Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.Other officials still on the European sanctions list include Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Phillip Valerio Sibanda, former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss Happyton Bonyongwe and former police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri.As part of at least 26 recommendations, the EU Parliament this week called on the European Council "to review its restrictive measures against individuals and entities in Zimbabwe, including those measures currently suspended, in the light of accountability for recent State violence".The EU MPs also said bluntly that the "continued attacks, hate speech, smear campaigns, acts of intimidation and harassment and acts of torture" against innocent Zimbabweans and human rights defenders had undermined democracy in the country.In that light, they urged "the international community, notably the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union (AU), to give more active assistance to Zimbabwe to find a sustainable democratic solution to the current crisis".They also urged "neighbouring countries to comply with the provisions of international law and to protect those fleeing violence in Zimbabwe with the provision of asylum, especially in the short term".This comes after Zimbabwe was last month thrown into a ginormous crisis when angry protesters flooded the streets of Harare, Bulawayo and several other towns across the country, demonstrating against sharp fuel price hikes.Property worth millions of dollars was also destroyed and looted in the mayhem which ensued, after tens of thousands of workers heeded the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions' three-day strike call.At the same time, security forces unleashed a brutal crackdown against the protesters, the opposition and civil society leaders - in a move which received wide condemnation in the country and around the world.Rights groups also continue to report human rights abuses by security forces - including galling allegations that soldiers had raped women and girls during their much-condemned crackdown against innocent civilians.The EU parliamentarians also implored Mnangagwa to launch a thorough probe into the allegations levelled against the security forces, in addition to pulling the army away from high density suburbs.They further called on Zimbabwean authorities "to undertake a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into allegations of human riots violations and abuses, including rape and sexual violence by the security forces and to bring those responsible to justice".Apart from investigating and prosecuting security forces found to have committed the alleged crimes, the EU MPs also called on the government to implement the findings of the commission of inquiry which was chaired by former South Africa president Kgalema Motlanthe.Mnangagwa appointed the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry to probe the deaths of at least six civilians who were killed on August 1 in Harare's central business district, when the army used live ammunition to break ugly demonstrations which had rocked the capital.Political analysts have said the post-July 30 election shootings, and the latest round of deaths from the January riots - as well as the vicious clampdown of dissenting voices in the country - had dented Mnangagwa's image significantly, in addition to harming his chances of getting financial support from Western countries.Last week, UK minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, also warned that they were mulling widening the sanctions against Mnangagwa's government to include high-ranking military officials - in a move which was widely seen as dashing any last remaining hopes for the renewal of ties between Harare and London."The process of rolling up the EU (European Union) sanctions has come up and the UK has been arguing that it is not yet time for us to allow those to expire."And I think since the recent developments we think there might be a case for widening it to include further individuals."We have been aware that the president has said that heads will roll, we haven't seen any specific heads rolling, but that might be a good example of the kinds of people who could then be further extended and we could include in the sanctions regime," Baldwin said.Mnangagwa, who was feted like a king when he replaced Mugabe in November 2017, initially lifted the mood of crisis-weary Zimbabweans who were hopeful at the time that he would turn around the country's economic fortunes.But his government's efforts to revive the economy by introducing a slew of economic stabilisation measures - which have been widely rejected by ordinary people - have been blamed for causing civil unrest.Meanwhile, and following criticism of his government's handling of the recent protests, Mnangagwa has put in motion plans to launch a national dialogue, in a bid to end the country's myriad problems.The president has already held talks about talks with some of his rivals from last July's presidential election, as part of his efforts to heal the ruling Zanu-PF's rift with the opposition ahead of the mooted national dialogue - which is being spearheaded by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC).However, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa - who has been brawling with the 76-year-old Zanu-PF leader since the outcome of the July 30 poll - snubbed the meeting as he insists on having an independent arbiter for the talks. News / National by Staff reporter President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday cancelled his planned trip to attend the CEO Africa Roundtable in Victoria Falls, amid a worsening economic crisis stirring resentment to his rule.He cited a meeting with diplomats held in Harare on Thursday as the reason and also attributed the cancellation to the ongoing formation of a Presidential Advisory Council formed to help him in formulating key economic policies and strategies that advance his so-called Vision 2030.The council comprises leaders of a variety of major Zimbabwean corporations, entrepreneurs, business executives, intellectuals and church leaders.Asked why the president did not pitch up for the invitation-only annual business meeting, Mnangagwa's spokesperson George Charamba told the Daily News: "For the simple reason that he had a fixture with diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe yesterday, and also because his Advisory Council is convening pretty soon to, among other issues, work on a framework for the next indaba with business. He may have missed a fixture, he has not spurned a constituency."The usual caravan of business leaders, ministers, parliamentarians, academics and journalists had trekked into the resort town for their annual February get-together, but the man everyone was talking about was 707km away, officially opening the 12th Zimbabwe International Research Symposium 2019 organised by the Research Council of Zimbabwe.Mnangagwa was supposed to be the "Guest of Honour", billed to make a presentation on the closing day of the forum, which ran under the theme "From talk to unified action: Towards a more responsible and inclusive national economy."One CEO told the Daily News of Mnangagwa's snub: "It feels like Hamlet without the prince." That, bluntly, is how the CEO Africa Roundtable feels this year, he said.Mnangagwa and his Finance minister Mthuli Ncube are dominating proceedings. A survey of business executives conducted showed that companies are worried by Mnangagwa's austerity measures and currency rhetoric.In Mnangagwa's absence, it has been left to senior members of his administration - the Speaker Jacob Mudenda, and Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology minister Amon Murwira - to fly his administration's flag.Predictably, the concerns are strongest in the business community given the slowing economic growth blamed on Mnangagwa's economic stewardship.There is talk here of the need to ensure that currency reforms work for everyone.One CEO said he had hoped the new president's reign would mean stronger growth and higher corporate earnings.There is also a sense that Mnangagwa is not effectively leading the country on economic issues, amid indications he and the business community have become distant and now have a strained relationship.Mnangagwa attended the forum last year where his neck tie was auctioned off for a staggering$15 000. After letting go of the tie, which he came putting on from Harare, Mnangagwa was offered an American flag-designed replacement, which he put on immediately.Oswell Bimha, the CEO Africa Roundtable chairperson, told the Daily News the forum was at fault in Mnangagwa's no-show."Look, when you invite the president, traditionally we have just written directly to his office and we have had to host him, but this time around we have been told we were supposed to follow a certain pattern which we accept we should have followed," Bimha said."He is our number one CEO. There is an acknowledgement around the table that we have not followed the right protocol but we still are going to, after this, go back to our president because it does not make the outcome of this conference less important."We still need to engage him out of the collective that we would have come up with. So, next year, we will do the right thing, we will do the correct processes."We want to assure the president whatever bungling up of the process, it is not disrespect. We are not all part of the protocol processes done within these circles but certainly we expect him to be with us next year."Asked if the president had sent apologies, Bimha said: "We have failed to do the procedure."Asked to outline the procedure, he said: "The procedure is that we are supposed to write to our parent minister, our parent minister then requests the president or through whatever channels at the president's office.So, we did write directly to them, and writing directly to them, we did write on time and we are still wanting to be educated on how else we could have done it so that we could be educated on the process but also getting the president to create time on his busy schedule to come''.Bimha also said there was also a scheduling conflict."There are also critical issues that are happening within the president's diary at this time which have coincided with this, so there is a combination of issues. And sadly, on behalf of the roundtable, we are very saddened that we couldn't have him this time around."Asked what will happen to the forum's economic reform lobby document, "Call to action", Bimha said: "Very, very, urgently, our Call to Action document is part of our package to him. This Call to Action document is going to be value-added. Being value-added means the contributions that have come up of this are actually going to be put in the priorities that the members have." Gettyimagesbank By Lee Kyung-min Korea should brace for a eurozone (EU)-triggered global economic slowdown that may develop into a full-blown recession, according to global experts, Sunday. They said that if the eurozone downturn coincides with China's slowdown and trade confrontations between the U.S. and China, it will come as a perfect storm for the Korean economy. They expect that chances of a global recession are growing and this time it could originate from the eurozone as the EU economy, including Germany, is reeling from multiple downside risks. "The chances of a global recession are higher now than in any previous recent year," said Antonio Fatas, economics professor at INSEAD. He said a global recession could start in Europe. "In Europe we have a slowdown in some economies and some large risks Brexit and Italy," he said. But he sees risk everywhere, citing the U.S.' low unemployment rate. "The risk is not only in Europe. The U.S. economy is coming to the end of a long expansion phase. Typically once it reaches these low levels, it goes quickly into a recession," he said. "And some financial markets look stretched, another signal that also precedes recessions. And China is slowing down it does not help." News / National by Staff reporter GOVERNMENT is considering introducing stop-and-search security roadblocks on roads following a wave of armed robberies targeting cross-border buses plying the Zimbabwe-South Africa route.A number of passengers have fallen victim to robbers who target buses, with the latest incident being recorded on Monday when armed men attacked a Musina-bound Brooklyn bus in Mbalabala.Passengers lost mobile phones and cash during the heist.Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said there was increasing concern over the spate of robberies on highways."Armed robbers have been robbing passengers and it is something of concern. It is something that they (police) are aware of and action is being taken to ensure that our citizens go about their business in peace," Ziyambi told Senators on Thursday when asked what government was doing to protect travellers."So, it is something of concern that is being addressed and security road blocks and surveillance are being done. Some of them that have been robbing people since July last year were arrested "Cross-border traders have emerged as easy targets as most will be carrying cash.The robbers have not been confined to Zimbabwe alone, but even in neighbouring South Africa, where buses going to that country or coming to Zimbabwe have been targeted.In May last year, a Bulawayo man was shot on the ear after he withheld R10 from highway robbers who had hijacked a bus. Omalayitsha and two private motorists between Musina and Kranskop along the N1 Highway, between Musina and Johannesburg were also victims of robberies.In June 2016, a bus travelling to Johannesburg from Zimbabwe was attacked by three gunmen, who robbed the passengers of money and cellphones between Polokwane and Mokopane.In July the same year, a passenger on a bus from Zimbabwe to South Africa allegedly wrested a gun from a robber and shot him dead after four armed men had raided a bus in Musina.In April 2015, 48 Zimbabweans endured a four-hour hijack horror after armed robbers stormed their Johannesburg-bound bus near Hammanskraal and got away with cash, cellphones and other gadgets. News / National by Staff reporter Former Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo's $9 million defamation lawsuit against Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) and its journalists crumbled on Thursday after the High Court dismissed it with costs.Prof Moyo had sued Zimpapers together with editors and reporters of the integrated media house alleging that he had been defamed after the group's titles published allegations that he siphoned more than $400 000 from Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund through dubious activities.High Court Judge, Justice Jesta Charehwa, dismissed the case with costs in her chambers yesterday after Prof Moyo and his legal practitioners failed to attend a pre-trial conference aimed at discussing how to manage the case before it proceeded to trial.Zimpapers lawyer, Advocate Brian Hungwe, submitted that for the past three months they had been running back and forth trying to locate Prof Moyo's legal practitioners.This was after a law firm that initially represented him renounced agency. Adv Hungwe implored the court to take judicial notice that Prof Moyo was wanted by law enforcement agencies in respect of criminal cases, some of which were founded on the present suit."It is my submission that the plaintiff is in wilful default and I pray that the case be dismissed with costs," said Adv Hungwe, before Justice Charehwa.In the lawsuit, Prof Moyo cited Brian Chitemba, Mabasa Sasa, Limukani Ncube, Lloyd Gumbo, Zvamaida Murwira, Caesar Zvayi, Innocent Madonko and Zimpapers, as respondents.Prof Moyo's whereabouts are unknown, amid some reports that he is holed up in Kenya. He is facing criminal charges together with his former deputy, Godfrey Gandawa, who has since been issued with a warrant of arrest after he failed to attend trial when it was due to commence at the High Court last year.In his suit, Prof Moyo had submitted that a number of articles that were published by The Herald, The Chronicle, The Sunday News and The Sunday Mail allegedly portrayed him as a dishonest man, a thief and a corrupt minister unfit to hold public office.In his declaration, Moyo cited articles published with following headlines: "Probe into Prof Moyo, Dr Gandawa: The Details", "Moyo likens self to Robin Hood", "Prof Moyo 'admits' funds abuse", "Zanu-PF didn't get Zimdef loot", "Parly summons Professor Moyo" and "Parly summons Professor Moyo to explain Zimdef abuse allegations". News / National by Staff reporter MDC legislators on Wednesday grilled Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi over the effects of government's austerity measures while bigwigs are living an extravagant life.MDC MP for Glen Norah, Wellington Chikombo set the ball rolling after he asked Ziyambi if the government is pro-poor or not."I want to know the ideology of your government. I am referring to whether you are for communism, social democracy or capitalism? To put it more singular, is your government a pro-poor government or it is for the elite or it is for the Queen B?"In his response Ziyambi said the policies of government are guided by the Constitution."We have a Constitution of Zimbabwe which is our Supreme Law that guides us and government once in a while also spells out our programmes."Last year, we came up with a transition stabilisation programme that spells out what we need to do within the short term and within the next five years."However, Chikombo insisted saying people are suffering while top government officials are living an extravagant life."If we read those documents that he is trying to tell this House, he is talking of social democracy but on the ground, we are realising that the poor are the people who are continuously suffering. They face high taxation, low salaries and recently we have witnessed operation Murambatsvina which is contentiously targeting the poor."Ziyambi said his job is not to describe ideology but to represent government policy."If he is interested in those ideologies, I will be glad to allow him to come to my office so that we can deliberate on those, but if we want to focus on the policy of government, we have a whole document that was presented and we have a budget that was presented by the minister and all those issues that he wants me to articulate in an ideological document are well presented in those documents."After Ziyambi's response, Chikombo blasted the government saying it doesn't have an ideology. "A policy is supposed to be rooted from an ideology. What I asked the minister is to explain and articulate the ideology that is running this government."However, Ziyambi stuck to his guns saying the legislator was totally lost.The response did not go down well with opposition MPs who demanded an explanation.MDC MP for Binga North Prince Dubeko Sibanda questioned the minister on why the situation on the ground is different from government's policy."Before the minister becomes emotional, I am sure the reason why these questions are coming is because we have got a budget which is styled 'austerity for posterity'."However, the actions that are taking place in the executive are different from the theory that is in the budget."I want to give an example. The executive has been flying in hired jets instead of commercial airlines. How does government intend to ensure that its policies as pronounced in the documents that the minister indicated and its actions on the ground tally?"However, a defiant Ziyambi said Parliament is the one which approves budgets and whatever happens in government is approved in the august House. News / National by Staff reporter FORMER MDC legislator Paul Madzore risks civil imprisonment after he was taken to court by CBZ Bank Limited over a $22 000 debt.The financial institution issued summons for civil imprisonment against Madzore at the High Court and the latter is yet to respond to the litigation.In its declaration, CBZ Bank says Madzore is required to pay $22 087,51 following a judgment which was obtained against him last year."You, the defendant (Paul Madzore) are called upon to pay the plaintiff (CBZ Bank) the sum of $22 087,51, with interest thereon at the rate of 26% per annum calculated from March 30, 2017 to the date of payment in full. You are required to pay this sum by virtue of a judgment obtained against you in the High Court at Harare on July 10, 2018. You were also ordered to pay cost of suit on the higher scale of legal practitioner and client scale and the relevant collection commission " the bank said.CBZ further said in the event that Madzore fails to pay the requested cash, he would be required to appear before the High Court and explain his position."If you fail to pay the sum specified above, you must appear before the High court at Harare to explain why you have not paid it and to show cause why an order for your imprisonment should not be made in account of your failure to pay," the bank said."You should bring with you evidence of your financial position, and it will be in your own interest to give the court evidence of your income from wages, salary or other earnings and any other income you may receive from any other source, your expenses for yourself and any dependents and any other liabilities you may be subject." News / National by Staff reporter The High Court has ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to reinstate a cop who was fired from the force in 2014 for insulting former President Robert Mugabe.Chief Inspector Newton Jindu was relieved of his duties after being accused of insulting Mugabe labelling the former Zanu-PF leader as old.In a ruling made by Justice Mary-Zimba Dube on January 30, the police were given a 14-day ultimatum to reinstate Jindu."It is ordered that the respondents be and are hereby ordered to reinstate the applicant into the police service in terms of paragraph 2 and 3 of the order of this court in HC 11278/17 within 14 days of the date of the order," the ruling read.The ultimatum came after the police disregarded a July 17 2018 High Court order passed by Justice Munanati-Manongwa to reinstate Jindu.In a notice of opposition by Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga dated September 13, 2018, the police force said it was not in contempt of court because it was in the process of appealing the order."The respondents have not refused to reinstate the applicant. Currently, we are in the process appealing to the Supreme Court," he said."The respondents are not in contempt of court as alluded. The respondents are in the process of filling their notice of appeal."However, through his lawyers Mugiya and Macharaga Law Chambers, Jindu approached the High Court accusing the police of contempt, resulting in the 14-day ultimatum.In his founding affidavit, Jindu was discharged from the police force on October 9, 2014.Apart from the Mugabe insults allegations, Jindu was also accused of saying that former police boss, Augustine Chihuri was old and ill after he had fainted during a passout parade in Harare.He was then transferred to Gwanda before being discharged over the allegations. News / National by newzimbabwe ZANU-PF MP for Buhera South, Joseph Chinotimba says he was ashamed of the riotous behaviour of fellow legislators Dexter Nduna and Temba Mliswa who came close to trading blows beginning of this week.He equated the feud to two "idiotic" school teachers who brawl in front of their pupils.Zimbabwe's ambassador of happiness told journalists at parliament building Thursday that he was confronted by outsiders while away to Dubai to attend a peace summit, to explain the unruly behaviour of his colleagues."The behaviour of the two is not expected of parliamentarians. I was in Dubai and I was being asked on what was happening in Zimbabwe. What Nduna and Mliswa did does not show happiness among MPs," Chinotimba said while still clad in an Arabic gown and head scarf.Nduna, who is Zanu-PF MP for Chegutu West and Mliswa, independent MP for Norton, rowed in front of outsiders who had come for the Mines and Energy Committee.The bust-up came just after Zanu-PF MP for Chiredzi North, Roy Bhila had demanded Mliswa's recusal as committee chair until he cleared his name from bribery claims.Mliswa is under investigation from parliament following claims of demanding a bribe of $400 000 from Hwange businessman James Ross Goddard.He is facing the probe together with Binga North MP, Prince Dubeko Sibanda and Anele Ndebele (both of MDC) as well as Leonard Chikomba of Zanu-PF.During the altercation, captured via smartphone video which went viral on social media, Mliswa called Nduna a "triple thief" while the latter threatened to kill his former Zanu-PF colleague adding that he has killed many.Nduna has since filed a $10 million defamation suit while Mliswa has demanded parliament to institute an investigation into murder "confessions" by the Zanu-PF MP.In his comments, Chinotimba said the behaviour exhibited by Nduna and Mliswa was taboo in other countries.He added, "If a teacher does that in front of school children, it is idiotic."I am not happy with their behaviour as people were asking me what these MPs were doing." News / National by Staff reporter President Mnangagwa has reaffirmed his commitment to peace and dialogue and maintaining an open door policy to resolving challenges facing the country.Addressing diplomats in Harare yesterday, President Mnangagwa said while everyone had a right to protest, it had to done in a peaceful manner that respected the right of others."Let me reiterate that in the new Zimbabwe everyone has the right to protest peacefully," he said. "Everyone has the right to voice their opinions peacefully. And everyone has a right to criticise me and my Government peacefully."President Mnangagwa said his administration valued peace and democracy adding that violence had no place in "our midst"."We believe that human life is sacrosanct," he said."Violence is a betrayal of the new Zimbabwe. It must be criticised by all parties. It is time to make things right."President Mnangagwa told the diplomats that the implementation of the recommendations of the "Motlanthe Commission Report" into the August 1 post-election violence was progressing well. He condemned the violence that rocked the country last month disguised as mass protests.He said foreign hands were visible in the scheme to destabilise the country."The demonstrations were therefore neither civil nor peaceful and were bent on effecting a regime change," he said. "There were violent riots. Politically motivated, premeditated, well organised and co-ordinated."President Mnangagwa said the mayhem necessitated the intervention of security forces and law enforcement agents to bring sanity in the country while also protecting the people and their businesses."Following the vandalism, violence and associated looting, the security forces had to step in," he said. "What followed is still being investigated. We will not condone any illegal, criminal acts or civil delinquency no matter who the perpetrators are."The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces made it clear that the military and police were there to serve the people, protect them, uphold and enforce the law of the land. But warned against rogue elements abusing their responsibilities."Any evidence of rogue police officers or soldiers taking the law into their own hands will be dealt with and they will face the full force of the law," he said.The President last week held a meeting with former presidential aspirants in the 2018 presidential elections to dialogue aimed at narrowing political differences and find common ground and political path for the country. He said all the presidential candidates imbued with maturity and sense of leadership accepted his invitation and joined him for the crucial meeting."I call those who refuse to take part in the national dialogue to stop grandstanding and playing games with the lives of the people of Zimbabwe," he said. President Mnangagwa challenged the international community to give Zimbabwe a chance and rally behind the country in its quest to chat a new trajectory. "Stand with us as we toil to chart a new course for our nation, for the people of Zimbabwe," he said."We are open and transparent. We have nothing to hide." The President also apprised the diplomats that Government had opened up the media and the democratic political space and would remain a listening President."My arms are out stretched and my door is open."We hear your criticisms and when it is fair, the insights are noted or implemented," said the President reaffirming his commitment to restructuring, reforming and rebuilding the entire system and the nation. News / National by Staff reporter POLICE in Matabeleland South Province have appealed for assistance from members of the public in identification of five bodies that were burnt beyond recognition in two separate incidents and are being held at the United Bulawayo Hospitals.In a statement Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson Chief Inspector Philisani Ndebele said three of the bodies were passengers burnt to death after a Brooklyn Bus they were travelling in caught fire at West Nicholson area in November.The other two, he said, were burnt beyond recognition when a vehicle caught fire in Ngundu area along the Masvingo-Beitbridge Road last month. "As police we are appealing to members of the public who might be missing their relatives and suspect that they could have been on board the Brooklyn Bus which caught fire on 15 November last year."There are three unidentified bodies that are housed at the United Bulawayo Hospitals Mortuary. The bus was travelling from Zvishavane to Musina and it passed through Filabusi, Mbalabala, Gwanda, Colleen Bawn and West Nicholson before the inferno."We also have bodies of two adults housed at the same mortuary. "They were also burnt to death after a South African registered Ford Bantam vehicle they were travelling in caught fire along the Masvingo-Beitbridge Road on January 20."Those who might be relatives to these unidentified people should contact me Chief Inspector Ndebele on 0715 431 235 or 0773 594 899 or on landline 02842-22810. They can also visit any police station near to them," he said.Chief Insp Ndebele said in last month's incident, a family was travelling from Harare to South Africa and are suspected to have picked up two passengers along the way. He said while the vehicle was travelling along the Masvingo- Beitbridge Road in Ngundu area at around 2AM the driver lost control of the vehicle and it hit a tree before the car burst into flames and all occupants were burnt beyond recognition.On November 15, last year 32 people, mainly cross border traders, were burnt beyond recognition after a Brooklyn Bus there were travelling in from Zvishavane to Musina in South Africa burst into flames. The incident occurred at around 11PM. The fire is suspected to have started after a gas cylinder exploded. News / National by Staff reporter The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) will commence re-powering project for Harare Power Station (generator number 2) in the first quarter of this year in a development that will add 60 megawatts to the national grid and further cut imports.This comes after the US$533 million Kariba South Power Station extension, which was completed in March last year added 300 megawatts to the national power grid, whittling daily electricity imports from an average of 450MW to just 50MW.Zimbabwe's peak period demand stands at 1 600MW against internal generation of 1 400 - 1 500MW, but with the economy currently subdued, Government continues to invest in building capacity as demand will grow when the economy recovers.Current investment in building internal power generation will stabilise domestic power supply, make Zimbabwe self-sufficient on power, build excess capacity to export and save the country significant amounts of much needed foreign currency.ZPC, the generation unit of State power utility ZESA, is implementing the re-powering project. ZPC project manager Emmanuel Manyau told a parliamentary portfolio committee on mines and energy, which toured Harare Power Station yesterday for familiarisation, that the project was ready to start after ZPC had secured a $176 million loan. However, Mr Manyau said out of the US$176 million secured from Afreximbank, only US$52 million had been earmarked for the Harare Power Station re-powering project while the balance is meant for Hwange Power Station 7 and 8 extension.Mr Manyau said the project will require US$104 million, but the construction contract with Jaguar Overseas of India, whose officials were in the country recently to discuss implementation following financial close, will cost US$70 million.It is expected that the re-powering project will take two years to complete, barring unforeseen challenges since the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract was already in place after an agreement signed with Jaguar Overseas of India in 2014.Apart from reducing the country's need to import power, the Harare Power Station re-powering project will enable the country to reduce internal power deficit, improve efficiency and reliability. "Our objective is to revive Harare Power Station number two.Currently, we have Harare Power Station 3, and that is the one that is operational. Harare Power Station number 2 (was) de-commissioned (in 2014), so that is where our project is focused."This project is ready to commence, why do I say so? The feasibility study has been done, generation licence has been acquired, we have signed an EPC contract with Jaguar, we do have an environmental impact assessment from EMA (and) a water supply agreement was signed with ZINWA for the steam turbines," Mr Manyau said.The scope of the re-powering project involves replacement of nine chain grate boilers with new technology, which is called circulated fluidised combustion boilers. The new technology will add two boilers, which will replace the nine boilers.Each of the boilers will have capacity of 30 megawatts and the new technology comes with advantages of its own, which is the reason the power utility resolved to adopt it.Mr Manyau said the new technology of the boiler system had higher efficiency, meaning ZPC can use both high and low quality coal at the thermal power station. The other advantage is flexibility in terms of fuel; these types of boilers are flexible in the type of fuel that they can work with. They can work with high quality and the poorest of quality, which allows us to get fuel from the various local mines.The system produces low sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, which are harmful substances and major issues in terms of environmental concerns or pollution. Part of the scope of the re-powering project entails refurbishment of turbines and generators, which will not be changed after a life assessment that was done indicated refurbishment could add 15-20 years on the life of the generators and turbines."So it was cost effective to keep them, a total of four; two are 10MW and other two 20MW to make a total of 60MW.Our projected start date, we are projected to start within the first quarter of 2019 and we are also projecting to end, all things being equal in the first quarter of 2021," Mr Manyau told the parliamentarians."We anticipate that this project will provide an improvement in generation, which will in turn close the deficit that we have in our supply and demand of power."As you know we do have a (power) deficit, so this (re-powering) project for 60MW will significantly cover the deficit that we have, especially if you look at the peak time deficit."We will be able to have our (power) station running as base load. "We also anticipate creation of employment and this is obviously during implementation of the project as well as well as after the project has been fully implemented and Harare 2 Power Station is now running we will require more people to man it." News / National by Staff reporter ZIMRA is overwhelmed by impounded smuggled goods that are piling and taking up space at three warehouses in Mutare.Zimra regional manager Mr Innocent Chikuni told heads of Government departments during a tour of the three warehouses on Tuesday that they were overwhelmed by the volumes of impounded goods."We have three warehouses which we are using to store the impounded goods, but we are now renting another one because of the rate of smuggling along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border," he said.Responding to Mr Chikuni's remarks, the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba said the tax collector should expedite the distribution of impounded goods to the less privileged across the province to free up storage space."We moved around the Zimra warehouses and realised that there are volumes of smuggled goods in stock. We understand that these smuggled goods should be distributed to less privileged on a quarterly basis. The process should be expedited," she said.Dr Gwaradzimba said the distribution of the goods to charity was very slow considering that Zimra was given the green light to do so by the Ministry of Social Welfare.She suggested that the goods should be distributed weekly, instead of quarterly.Dr Gwaradzimba also recommended that impounded cars that have been forfeited to the State be distributed to Government departments.After touring the warehouses, the delegation which included members of the Joint Operation Command, proceeded to Forbes Border Post where haulage trucks were reportedly causing congestion on the Zimbabwean side.They wanted to explore ways to decongest the border and ascertain on what was causing current challenges.After discussing with Zimra officials, who blamed transporters and clearing agents for congestion, it was agreed that stringent measures be put in place against truckers who park at the exit point before being cleared."There are internal processes that should be followed before the haulage trucks pass through the border and I noted that there was laxity of law enforcement because some of the truck drivers queue at the exit, thereby obstructing other vehicles."We have agreed that police should enforce the rules so that there will be a single lane," she said.Dr Gwaradzimba said there was need to speed up the transformation of the Forbes Border Post into a 24-hour entry point.Zimra is also expected to engage clearing agents and transporters to make sure that the rules are not violated. News / National by ZimLive The European Parliament recommended the tightening of sanctions on senior Zimbabwe officials and institutions on Thursday citing increased repression by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government.It said "continued attacks, hate speech, smear campaigns, acts of intimidation and harassment and acts of torture" against human rights defenders had undermined democracy.The MPs, in a resolution adopted at the end of their meeting in which Zimbabwe was on the agenda, called on Mnangagwa to "remain true to his inaugural promises" and to put Zimbabwe "back on the path of reconciliation and respect for democracy and the rule of law."European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe were first imposed in 2002, and grew to cover nearly 200 individuals who were subject to a travel ban and asset freeze, but have been loosened progressively with only seven people and one entity still subject to sanctions, which expire on February 20.The seven are former President Robert Mugabe, his Grace Mugabe, former CIO director general Happyton Bonyongwe, former police chief Augustine Chihuri, current Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri and Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Phillip Valeri Sibanda while the Zimbabwe Defence Industries is the only entity still listed.There is no unanimity in the EU over the use of sanctions, with some member states taking the view that they have not worked but yet paralysed over what pressure can be applied on Zimbabwe's leaders to force them to abandon the path of repression. Sanctions, some member countries argue, have given Zimbabwe's leaders a fig leaf to mask their leadership failures.In the wake of the killing of at least 17 opposition activists by security forces following fuel protests on January 14, Britain has led calls for the sanctions to be renewed. New sanctions, if they find support, would see more officials being targeted, including their families.The European Parliament resolved to "call on the European Council to review its restrictive measures against individuals and entities in Zimbabwe, including those measures currently suspended, in the light of accountability for recent state violence."The sanctions will be up for discussion when 28 EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on February 18.The European Parliament, meanwhile, said Mnangagwa must pull back the military and youth militia deployed across the country and to "immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners.""Calls on the Zimbabwean authorities to undertake a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into allegations of human riots violations and abuses, including rape and sexual violence by the security forces and to bring those response to justice," the MPs said in one of their 26 resolutions.Long term support from the European Union would be given to Zimbabwe based on "comprehensive reforms rather than mere promises."Mnangagwa also had to urgently implement recommendations of the European Union Election Observer Mission, chief among them the strengthening of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission "by making it truly independent and transparent" and "free from government oversight". News / National by Staff reporter A SERIES of meetings this week aimed at ending the stalemate in the finalisation of the US$400 million National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) recapitalisation deal failed to break the deadlock among the haggling parties as it emerged that they will not be able to meet the end of February deadline set by government late last year.The meetings, which began on Monday, ended in Harare yesterday, with parties to the deal resolving to continue with negotiations until July this year.South African rail, port and pipeline company Transnet and its partner, the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) are locked in mind-numbing negotiations with government and the NRZ over the deal.There have however been reports of sustained efforts by senior government officials to torpedo it through stringent due diligence processes.This gave rise to speculation of a plot to muscle Transnet out of the deal and bring in a new partner.The meetings were being attended by representatives from government, Transnet, DIDG, NRZ, legal advisors to the deal, Dube, Manikai & Hwacha (DMH) as well as its financial transaction advisors, Deloitte.Similar meetings throughout last year failed to break the impasse, which now threatens to derail the multi-million-dollar deal key towards rejuvenating the moribund local rail operator.In December, government ordered the parties to finalise the deal by the end of this month, a target which has since been missed.NRZ public relations manager Nyasha Maravanyika confirmed the latest development, saying the meetings did not produce an agreement."There was no agreement. Negotiations are still going on. All parties, however, are still committed and, by July, we should be able to finalise the deal," Maravanyika said."What these meetings have basically done is to give the negotiations a confidence booster because all parties affirmed their commitment to it," he added.Maravanyika also said the convoluted due diligence process, disagreements over the shareholding structure and an off-putting NRZ US$324 million debt were among the issues delaying the conclusion of the deal.The Zimbabwe Independent previously reported that the commercial law firm DMH has been demanding an unusually large volume of details concerning Transnet in carrying out the due diligence exercise.Parties to the deal also have sharp differences relating to the new shareholding structure and financing model of the project."The due diligence has been happening on all sides. We did our own while Transnet and DIDG did theirs. Deals of this nature can take up to five years before they can be implemented. The other issue has been the huge NRZ debt.No investor wants to inherit it and our proposal was that it should be warehoused and then we would be able to repay it once we are back on full throttle," Maravanyika said, adding the recommendations for further negotiations have since been relayed to government.Once parties conclude the lengthy negotiations and find common ground, cabinet will assess the preliminary agreements reached by stakeholders and decide on whether or not to approve the multi-million-dollar deal.South African banks which include Standard Bank, parent company to Stanbic Bank, Absa, Nedbank as well as the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) have been waiting in the wings with an estimated US$700 million to rejuvenate the NRZ, a parastatal seen as one of the vital cogs in efforts to salvage Zimbabwe's creaking economy.Ecobank of Kenya is also willing to inject US$100 million into the project while the CBZ has expressed commitment to pump in US$50 million.Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza had not responded to questions sent to him at the time of going to print.Matiza has previously said parties to the deal should resolve their differences by the last day of February, failure of which government would call off negotiations and look for new suitors. News / National by Staff reporter MALAYSIAN Airlines has turned down the Zimbabwean government's request to reverse a deal for the purchase of two Boeing 777 planes and threatened to take legal action for breach of contract, insiders said this week.Government initially entered into a deal in 2017 for the purchase of four jetliners, but now wanted to negotiate for two after failing to raise US$70 million for all of them.The planes, which were initially sourced for Zimbabwe Airways (ZimAirways), will now go towards the revival of the troubled flag carrier Air Zimbabwe.Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza travelled to Kuala Lumpur earlier this year to try and sell the new government position to the Malaysian Airlines executives without success. He told a media briefing in Harare last week that government would now proceed with the original deal for the four planes.Harare had paid for one plane in full and made a 10% deposit for the other. It had not commenced payments for the remaining two.Government sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that Matiza's proposal was shot down by Malaysian Airlines, which said government has no choice but to honour the subsisting contract or risk facing legal action for breach of contract."The issue is that the Malaysians did not want the original agreement altered and insisted on honouring the contract. Even before the trip to Malaysia was made, everyone knew that there was a high possibility for the authorities there to threaten legal action," a government source said. "They were told that the 2017 sale agreement was legally binding and Zimbabwe risked blacklisting by foreign airlines if it does not revert to the original plan."In an interview last week, Matiza said the planes would be delivered in the next three months."We agreed on the way forward. We should see our planes delivered within the next two to three months. The process of payment has already begun," Matiza said.An aviation source privy to the proceedings said the deal was brought back on track after both sides made concessions."Discussions were held and some concessions were made. Work is in progress to meet the conditions given by the Malaysians which include some outstanding payments to enable the planes to come," the source said.The delivery of the aircraft is expected to boost Air Zimbabwe's depleted fleet which has two aircraft, one of them currently grounded.Reports also suggested that Malaysian Airlines was now getting concerned about the state of neglect of the planes as they have not been serviced for a long time. Zimbabwe is also expected to pay an undisclosed amount in service fees.The four Boeing 777s are currently in bad shape and one had to be cannibalised to fly to Harare before it was flown back to Kuala Lumpur for routine maintenance.Cannibalisation of machine parts is the maintenance of mechanical or electronic systems with interchangeable parts.The state-owned Air Zimbabwe owes creditors over US$341 million.The administrator, Grant Thornton, has been given up to end of May this year to ensure the turnaround of the airline, secure investment partners and open new routes.Air Zimbabwe was placed under reconstruction in September last year to ring-fence the airline's assets which have been under threat from creditors seeking litigation. Etsy hasn't said how many sellers are affected, but there are hundreds of complaints in their seller forums. People who sell crafts and other goods on Etsy, an e-commerce site focused on handmade and small-batch products, say they woke up to a nasty surprise Friday morning when thousands of dollars were withdrawn from the bank accounts and credit cards sellers are required to have on file in order to have an Etsy storefront. The amounts of those surprise withdrawals varied wildly, from a few hundred dollars, to tens of thousands. Some of the attempted withdrawals were blocked by the sellers' banks and credit card companies, resulting in canceled cards and frozen accounts. But others went through, leaving those sellers with empty checking accounts, overdrafts, and over-the-limit fees, and a whole lot of questions. Reports of the financial chaos began trickling in on Etsy's Community Forums and on Twitter late Friday morning. Other sellers chimed in with similar stories and by Friday afternoon, there was chaos, confusion, and a lot of pissed off people. That's just a small example of the outrage. Etsy posted a blanket response in their Bugs forum. "We're aware of a bill payment error affecting a small group of sellers which resulted in some cards being incorrectly charged. We don't expect this error to impact additional sellers going forward. For affected sellers, we're very sorry for the trouble and concern this may have caused and we are currently working to make things right. We'll update the impacted sellers directly as we have more information." And that was it for Friday from Etsy. Instead of canceling the transactions directly with the sellers' banks or credit card companies, Etsy chose to refund the money to the shop owners payment accounts. This is a problem for multiple reasons. Because this happened on a Friday, and because Monday is a national holiday, the earliest the sellers will have access to their money is on Tuesday. They will then have to redeposit that money into their checking accounts or pay their credit card bill. That still leaves some sellers them with overdraft and over-the-limit fees. Then there's a potential tax issue. Money placed in shop owners payment accounts is considered taxable income and is reported to the IRS by Etsy. This has some sellers concerned that their 2019 1099s will include the refunded amount. If that happens, the sellers could potentially owe taxes on money they never earned. Oh, and don't forget the credit score dings that people whose cards went over the limit could potentially suffer. I've reached out to Etsy's media team with the following questions but have yet to hear back. When did Etsy first become aware that these withdrawals from seller account began? How many sellers were affected? Is it confirmed that this was a glitch and not a hack? Why did Etsy choose to credit the seller accounts with the amount of money withdrawn instead of canceling the transactions directly? What are Etsy's plans for handling the overdraft/overlimit fees incurred by sellers as a result of these transactions? What are Etsy's plans for handling the tax implications? How will Etsy prevent this from happening in the future? On Saturday, I spoke with a popular Etsy seller who asked not to be identified. They said their bank rejected multiple attempts at withdrawals in the tens of thousands of dollars. They didn't hear from Etsy until this email received late this morning: An update on recent issues affecting payment accounts On Friday, February 15, a bill payment error affected a small group of sellers which resulted in some cards being incorrectly charged. Sellers who were affected have been notified by email, or by Etsy Conversations, and the issue that caused this has since been resolved. As part of fixing this issue, all incorrectly charged cards have been refunded. It may take several business days for the refunded amounts to clear and settle in card accounts. Also related to fixing the root problem, some sellers saw their scheduled deposit of funds returned to Etsy on Friday, February 15, and those deposits will now be sent on Tuesday, February 19. For affected sellers, we are very sorry for the trouble or concern this may have caused. Our first priority has been to correct the issue. This was not a fraud issue, but instead an error related to a site change which affects a small group of sellers and is unrelated to buyers' purchases. This is an issue we do not take lightly. We've assembled a Payments task force, including senior executives across Etsy, to address any concerns or troubles resulting from this error. We will refund any undue fees associated with this incorrect charge and change in deposit schedule. We don't expect this error to impact additional sellers going forward. Etsy has one hell of a mess to start cleaning up. Good luck, Payments Task Force. Update: A representative from Etsy's communications team responded to my email, directing me to the message sent to sellers this afternoon and said they have no additional information to share at this time. Monday Update: While some sellers say they still haven't seen refunds post to their credit cards, an Etsy spokesperson reiterated to me that, "all cards have been refunded and it may take several business days for the transactions to clear." This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. it is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way. Page not found. Sorry, the page you specified does not exist. Either you misspelled a page name, or you need to update your bookmarks. <( Back ) Some North Dakota legislators are trying to create new crimes with stiff penalties for critical infrastructure trespass and impeding critical infrastructure. According to the sponsor, Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, the bill seeks to prevent damage to energy operations, telecommunications infrastructure and other critical facilities. In reality, it would continue bestowing special treatment for energy companies over agriculture and other businesses while intimidating law-abiding citizens from exercising their constitutional right to free speech. Senate Bill 2044 is nearly identical to one promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, an out-of-state lobby group dedicated to advancing large corporate interests in state legislatures. Recently, this legislation was introduced in Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Idaho. In 2018, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead vetoed a nearly identical bill calling it flawed, citing adverse impacts to farmers, ranchers, and landowners. It is referred to as the zombie bill after being defeated again in 2019, for good reason. North Dakota already has strict laws criminalizing vandalism, trespass, and property destruction and rightly so. This legislation is just plain unnecessary. As a first generation American, I am continually in awe of this country. I came from my home country of India to attend North Dakota State University, where I immersed myself into campus opportunities and our local community. During my time in Fargo, I made lifelong friends who loved and appreciated me. The people of Fargo won me over with their kindness and warm spirit. They convinced me that North Dakota was home, and made me the American I am. Many of these friends belong to the small but vibrant immigrant community in North Dakota, some of whom are stuck in the purgatory that is in the green card backlog. This backlog is caused by arbitrary limits set by bureaucrats in Washington on the number of green cards allotted to natives of any one country in any given year. These valuable members of our community share my love for North Dakota, yet -- despite having the required legal paperwork to become citizens -- the backlog on employment-based green cards means many of them have to wait years, even decades. As a lifelong sportsman, I know how urgent this issue is for Minnesotans, Walz said in a statement. The Minnesota DNR is working hard to contain chronic wasting disease. This critical funding would help ensure they have the best tools and resources available to maintain deer health and management across the state. There's no test at this point that can detect chronic wasting disease in live deer. And there's no vaccine or antidote to get rid of it. More than 30 cases of the disease have been confirmed in Minnesota. In Wisconsin, by comparison, thousands of cases have been reported. The disease affects deer, moose, caribou and elk and it is always fatal. The recent discovery of a CWD positive wild deer in our area is disappointing, to say the least, state Rep. Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin, said in a statement. However, if we act quickly and forcefully, I believe we can eradicate the disease from this part of Minnesota." Minnesota lawmakers have filed various bills aimed at limiting the spread of the disease in Minnesota's wild deer population. Among them are proposals to fund the creation of a device to test live deer for the disease and set a moratorium on new deer farms allowed in the state. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Trumps tweet said, If Elizabeth Warren, often referred by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash! Trump has repeatedly chided Warren for her claim to Native American ancestry, especially since she released DNA test results in October showing she is between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American. Trumps tweet referencing Wounded Knee has been widely criticized. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., tweeted on Jan. 15, The Wounded Knee Massacre was one of the darkest moments in our history. It should never be used as a punchline. Rounds fellow Republican South Dakota congressional delegates, Sen. John Thune and Rep. Dusty Johnson, also criticized the Trump tweet. Thune and Rounds were among the recipients of last weeks letters from Four Directions. Monday, in response to questions from the Rapid City Journal, spokespeople for the two senators reiterated their earlier criticisms of Trump's tweet but took no position on the Four Directions request, saying they are still reviewing it. Johnson, after being shown the Four Directions letters, replied with a written statement. Brad Berg, a Bismarck motorcycle rider, said he sees the barriers as "shredders" and a liability after he recently viewed automotive debris strewn into the median of Minnesota highways from vehicles' brushes with barriers. "Fast forward to summer, it's not going to be car parts laying in the ditch, it's going to be body parts if motorcycles hit that barrier," Berg said. "If someone takes it upon themselves to put this hazard into the ditch, then they're going to be responsible for anybody that loses a limb or a life." Berger said NDDOT's research has shown that motorcycle riders would be on the ground before reaching the barrier in the event of a crash. "According to the data, what we found is that most riders during a crash are actually separated from the motorcycle soon after leaving the pavement," Berger said. "By the time they would reach the barrier, they would have already been basically on the ground." Berger said NDDOT considered public input and other states' practices in planning the barriers. She also said the barriers on four-lane freeways have resulted in a 97 percent reduction in cross-median crashes. The farmhouses that continue to dot the North Dakota landscape are iconic to the state, so it makes sense that the descendants of those stalwart pioneers honor that history in their own homes. Farmhouse design remains a popular trend, but one newly launched interior decorator has seen it paired with a contemporary look which she likes to call "urban farmhouse." Lori Malloy, of Bismarck, has purchased a Decorating Den Interiors franchise and is sharing her observations, tips and problem-solving expertise with the community. The idea to introduce the franchise to the area began when Malloy decided to remodel her own home. "We did a big remodel in our home last year and found that we didnt have access to products without having a design business," she said. "I did not like the customer service we received on such a large financial investment just rubbed me wrong. I am still waiting for window treatment I paid for in April." An interest in home design and decor has burgeoned now that she has invested in a year's worth of training from Decorating Den Interiors, an East Coast company with 50 years in the business. Yes, employers nominally would pay in some matching share of payroll. But economists and others understood from the start that, in most cases, such employer contributions reduced nominal wages below what they would be in a free market without the social insurance plan. So most, though not necessarily all, of the funds came from workers pockets, directly or indirectly. This is still true and still poorly understood. Yes, as in any insurance plan, not everyone benefits equally. Some people die early in life and others later. Some have many children to be cared for in case of death or disability of the earner and some have few or none. Generally, higher-wage workers would get somewhat proportionally higher entitlements, though there often were benefit minimums for the worst cases. But on the whole, each cohort or generation would pay for its own benefits. Human suffering would be reduced, workers would have better morale knowing they had some protection and the siren song of revolution would be muted. Scholarship offered The Sigma Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma is offering a $500 scholarship for the 2019-20 school year to female graduates of Mandan High School who are majoring in a field of education and will be enrolling in their junior or senior year of college this fall. Applications are available at the MHS counseling office and at college education departments. Application deadline is April 7. Arizona picnic The North Dakota Community Foundation will host the 52nd annual North Dakota Picnic at Red Mountain Park in Mesa, Ariz., on March 3. The event is a gathering of anyone with North Dakota ties living either permanently or part-time in Arizona. Last years picnic drew an estimated 2,000 people. The event will be held 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at Red Mountain Park, 7745 E. Brown Road, Mesa. It will feature oldies music by the band Spotlight, classic cars on display and a variety of food trucks and vendor booths. The cost to attend the picnic is $5 per person, payable online at www.NDCF.net/Picnic or at the registration table on the day of the event. Grain dealers elect Sexton never fully articulates a crisis in his books third chapter as he discusses the impact of the war in post-Civil War period America. He notes the Jim Crow laws in the South reversed the gains from the end of slavery, which in turn were set aside by the struggle for civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s. The other legacy of the war was the projection of U.S. power beyond its borders. The foundation power of the United States was its immense and now secure continental domain. Foreign capital flowed into America, but most development was funded from American sources. Sexton asserts: The line from 1865 to the imperialism of 1898 and beyond was not a straight one, but there can be little question that the outcome of the Civil War placed the United States on a path toward world power. In his fourth chapter, Sexton quotes Franklin Roosevelt about America going from one world crisis after another. He emphasizes the New Deal and immigration, but he does not deal with the events of World War l or World War ll, except in brief passing references, and he does not even mention the Korean War. The bill still has to clear two more hurdles before it becomes law. The U.S. House is expected to take it up later this month and prospects for passage are good, according to The Washington Post. Gianforte has pledged his support. Although President Trump has not commented publicly, the Post reported that he has privately said that he will sign the lands bill. Another provision that will have a direct affect in Montana is the revival of the Land Water Conservation Fund, which expired on Sept. 30 because Congress failed to renew the highly popular program. The LWCF has provided about $540 million for federal, state and local parks, fishing access sites and other outdoor recreation in Montana since 1964. The money comes from revenue the federal government receives from offshore oil drilling. The LWCF would be permanently reauthorized under the Senate bill something Daines and Tester have both promoted. They and other members of Congress have also called for full funding of $900 million annually. However, the Senate Natural Resources Management Act does not include any funding. The compromise budget bill that averted another government shutdown last week has $435 million for LWCF this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2019. That's $10 million more than last fiscal year. The urgent need to make sure people have access to behavioral health care is real. Medicaid spending on substance use disorders has increased five-fold from 2015 to 2017, most of which is new federal funds, as more people are able to get the care they need. Expansion is the most cost-effective way that we can ensure Montanans have access to the help they need to manage mental health issues and to successfully recover from addiction. Mental health and substance use disorder treatment service providers across the state have seen the life-changing impacts of Medicaid expansion. We will tell you time and time again that if Medicaid expansion were repealed or if the Legislature imposed new, strict requirements on enrollees, that our states progress and ability to successfully meet the behavioral health needs of Montanans would be rolled back five to ten years. In addition, many of the providers will be unable to keep their doors open as reimbursements has been severely reduced. The people who work in this field every day therapists, mental health providers, licensed addiction counselors, and community service providers will tell you the same thing: There is no viable solution to address the mental health and substance use crisis in our state without Medicaid expansion. We call on legislators to make the right choice for Montana and the people we serve. Simply lift the sunset on a program that is working. Dont punish Montanans because they need help. Giving them health care is the ticket to helping them live full lives and take part in our communities. Its good for them, and its good for Montana. Lenette Kosovich, CEO for Rimrock, an inpatient and outpatient chemical dependency treatment provider in Billings, serves on the board of the Behavioral Health Alliance of Montana. This guest opinion was signed by these other BHAM board members: Jim Fitzgerald, Sydney Blair, Judith B. Herzog, Lenore Myers, Kathy Chavis, Bob Wigdorski, Julie Fleck, Dan Krause and Levi Anderson. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 5 The documents phrasing left room for interpretation, Schneeman said. It didnt answer the question of how the partnerships would be expanded. We have been working with (DPHHS) since August or September to help us understand how these departments are going to be enhanced, she said. And when we ask them what are enhanced services? they dont know, and they are asking us to tell them what they are, and we dont know. None of the money designated for the 2019 biennium has been allocated to RiverStone Health, Schneeman said, despite the fact that the services to children in foster care have continued. At the Feb. 5 subcommittee hearing, Sen. Mary McNally, a Billings legislator, asked why, even though the money has been restored to the budget, RiverStone hasnt seen any of it, though the Billings area has the largest number of foster kids in the state. It seems like this has been going on for a while and that agreements have been reached with other counties and other providers, McNally said. Im still unclear about why this is taking so long. Douglas and her husband, who were married for 52 years, had three daughters, all who have tried on the dress. And now six of her eight granddaughters also have worn it for fun. That dress has had a lot of fun and a lot of laughter, she said. A wartime dress Gertie Peters grew up on a farm in Holland during World War II. After the Nazis had occupied the country for four years, on Sept. 17, 1944, the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division landed to help liberate the countrys people. The sky was white with parachutes, paratroopers jumping out of planes and floating to the ground, Peters said. It was unbelievable, the air was alive with the airplanes, she said. One of paratroopers was my husband. He didnt make much noise, but he was there. Two or three days later, she met Eugene Peters, and the only English word she knew was okie-dokie. He proposed they go on a date, and she had to look the word up in her little dictionary. Peters grew emotional as she told about how an anti-personnel cluster bomb dropped near where she was spared her but killed or wounded other family members. 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 Patients had to meet a list of eligibility requirements to be considered for the new drug trial. Stivers checked all the boxes Bottsford-Miller said, diagnosed with recurrent cervical cancer driven by the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) and all her vital organs in good shape. So she qualified and went down that road, he said. She was the first person anywhere to get it. The Phase 1 study includes use of two experimental drugs that train the immune system to target HPV infected cells. Having done that, an immunotherapy drug, atezolizumab (trade name Tecentriq), is then used to turn up the volume on the immune system, to allow the body to attack infected cells. The goal of the therapeutic clinical trial is to establish the appropriate dose and look at any side effects, Bottsford-Miller said. We do track whether someone is responding to it, but that is not the primary goal, he said. Skogen explained the trial began with one injection on the first day, called the primer dose, and then Stivers would be given two weeks to respond to it. She ended up staying in the hospital after the first dose until the second dose because she had flu-like symptoms, including a high temperature, Skogen said. The long hours and emotionally trying days. I have to break bad news to patients on a regular basis. Sometimes I see terribly sad things. It is difficult to reconcile why these things happen to good people. I often lose sleep over those patients. Who is your greatest mentor/inspiration? My inspiration comes from my family. My husband is the most selfless partner. My kids sweet faces and inquisitive minds inspire me to be a better mother and doctor every single day. I want to create a nurturing and stable life for them. My mother, a nurse, always encouraged me to pursue medicine and has been my biggest cheerleader throughout life. What advice would you give to anyone wanting to excel in a business or field? Dont be afraid to think outside the box and take risks. Trust your instincts. Dont ever feel above performing seemingly menial tasks to help someone have a better experience. Sometimes those little things end up making the biggest difference. One day, I passed a woman in the hallway at work and had a brief conversation. I thought she might also need physical comforting, so I got her a warm blanket from the warmer. That same person thanked me for that months later in the grocery store. But, I just couldnt shake it I was always cooking for large groups of friends, family and events. With my husband consistently away, I was left to fend for dinners alone for the kids and me. That's how the waffle biscuit was born. What is the most rewarding/important aspect of your occupation? While many do not realize this, food plays a vital role in most lives. Food is comforting. We get to walk through journeys with our guests who come in to fill their bellies after a stress-filled day or those who celebrate the birth of new life together. Do you have a motto that you live by? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I believe its important to live by this motto because in life you need other people. So it works out best if you treat others well, then they are more likely to do the same. What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start new business or excel in a business or field? Be committed. One can accomplish as much as they put their mind to. How do you view failure and success? Failure leads to success. This morning I spoke briefly with Joe Catenacci about the legacy of North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones (1943- 2019). When I first moved to this state somebody asked me who I admired in North Carolina politics? I immediately responded with Walter Jones. Not necessarily because I agreed with him the most but because I saw him as somebody who was reflective and sensitive, particularly to the pain of his constituents. He told the AP about what attending funerals of the fallen from the wars after 9/11 had done to him: "I want them to know that my heart aches as their heart aches." It was the infamous trench poet Wilfred Owen who once wrote, This video of Jones speaking about the display of fallen service members from Camp Lejeune outside of his office certainly speaks to a different kind of lawmaker. He was obviously somebody who was principled and was willing to buck his own party. His commitment to sounding the alarm on our debt and federal spending was a constant reminder that overall, the Republican Party in Washington D.C. has abandoned fiscal sanity. They don't have the courage to govern as principled men and women and are willing to sacrifice future generations instead of focusing on much-needed belt-tightening. Their careers come before moral courage.I was told on several occasions by some people in this state that Jones didn't matter that much in Washington. He didn't get things done because he wasn't in good with Republican Party leadership. Of course, the part of not getting things done wasn't true. He was continually willing to stand up to corruption and entrenched power in his own party as I've pointed out on this blog before . In this era of spending binges, his witness to the lunacy of more federal spending increases was more than enough.Finally, his legacy is strong because he was willing to go against the grain and not just be a pretend conservative or one of convenience. If you agreed with him or not, you knew his vote wasn't for sale. In Washington, we are desperately in need of more lawmakers like that, who look at the spending and much of the status quo and say, GREAT reporting + writing here from @PhilipWegmann ---> #LateTermAbortion Stance May Be Trump Card in 2020 ~60%t of Americans support abortion in the 1st trimester. 28% support abortion in the 2nd trimester. By the third trimester, only 13%.https://t.co/rUU9twE40r Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) February 9, 2019 75% say third trimester abortions should be legal if mother's life is in danger. https://t.co/xOtrJLWP50 https://t.co/nSlK8BW0Ao Tommy MMXIXtopher (@tommyxtopher) February 9, 2019 On Friday, journalist Susan Crabtree lauded an article by Philip Wegmann of RealClearPolitics . The piece, titled "Late-Term Abortion Stance May Be Trump Card in 2020," notes that according to Gallup polling:In response to Crabtree's tweet, Mediaite's Tommy Christopher tweeted:Indeed, the May 2018 Gallup survey asks:75% of respondents said that abortion should be "legal" under such circumstances, while 22% said it should beHowever, these results are misleading. Gallup's question implies that there are certain circumstances during the third trimester of pregnancy in which an abortion could save a woman's life. Such a question suggests that termination is sometimes the only solution to certain late-term medical scenarios.This simply isn't true.During an interview with Live Action founder Lila Rose, former abortion doctor Anthony Levatino stated that late-term abortions are never medically necessary:Levatino continued, explaining that prior to a late-term abortion, the cervix must be sufficiently dilated in order for the doctor to be able to properly extract the dismembered fetus from the uterus. The dilation processaccording to Levatino, who performed more than 1,200 abortions in his career. Many women experiencing major pregnancy complications don't have that much time.Levatino then spoke about a case that he encountered in his own career. A pregnant woman came to the hospital with "severe toxemia," also known as pre-eclampsia. Levatino "stabilized her, brought her back, did a cesarean section," andBoth the mother and the infant of 27 weeks gestation survived. Had she waited hours for a late-term abortion, she would have likely suffered a stroke, according to Levatino.he said.The idea that abortion is sometimes necessary to "save a woman's life" is persistent, but completely false. However, few people know this. Therefore, when a polling company asks a question such as the one that Gallup put forth, the answers should be analyzed with the understanding that many Americans aren't aware that the question is based on a false premise. Whiskey on ice in a cut glass: Above. photo by Stan Deatherage Click image to expand. I made a presentation recently to a community GOP club, a group of kind people who were smart, engaged, and curious. Much like many of the other groups I speak to and with.Most recently, I spoke about the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission and how it keeps a stranglehold on the production, sale, distribution, and enforcement aspects of all spirits coming in and out of North Carolina.It's not so easy to explain, as the laws, rules, and codes date to Prohibition. It's much like peeling the layers of a rotting onion.Generally speaking, I'm always struck by how little people really know about the history and machinations of the N.C. ABC system. But how would they? And it's just the way things are, right?I grew up in Pennsylvania, where, outside visiting a bar, the only place to buy beer was from a distributor. By the case. No six-packs, no singles. Things have changed some, but the Keystone State, when it comes to all sorts of alcohol, isn't a place one might call consumer-friendly.It was just the way things were. Or, in many respects, are.If they choose to buy spirits, people who move to North Carolina from the North or Midwest soon become familiar with the state's ABC system. They get used to it and may even become friendly with the clerks and managers.But none of this absolves the system from a blind commitment to its Prohibition-era, heavy-handed rules. There are better, more market- and consumer-friendly ways to sell liquor, which dozens of other states have shown through privatization and even centralized governance, as opposed to 168 independent boards.Someone recently asked me why North Carolina keeps an interminable death-grip on an archaic system that's more about control than commerce, more about dumping money into state and local coffers than into the hands of entrepreneurs and innovators.It's difficult to provide a clear answer, but a couple of factors are at play here.Primarily, it's about control. The N.C. ABC system has been in place since 1938 - some five years after federal repeal of Prohibition - and only incremental changes have since been made. That state's local control boards and the nonsensical system in which they operate are inherently political and absolutely entrenched. These boards, which respectively operate the state's ABC stores, transfer millions of dollars each year to county and municipal governments throughout the state.Overall, the N.C. ABC boasts in its annual report, fiscal 2018 marked the third consecutive record-setting year for "ten-digit sales." The billion dollars in revenue, the report says, resulted in a all-time high transfer of money to the General Assembly, which funded state departments and agencies, as well as UNC System universities such as UNC-Pembroke and Western Carolina University.Does anyone else see a disconnect here?The state, as evidenced by the ABC system, believes it's a better steward of people's money than private businesses and local entrepreneurs, who, should the state go private, would replace that "lost" revenue through property taxes, jobs, and ancillary investments.The biggest obstacle I see in reforming this antiquated system is - and this may sound harsh - the absence of an informed public, who, generally speaking, have just a superficial knowledge of how the system works and exactly who profits from it.People just don't know that each boards operates as an independent fiefdom, that distillers winning their approval sometimes have to circumvent and quell old feuds and prejudices. That getting into ABC means local products are relegated to "N.C. Products" shelves, oftentimes near the back of stores. That ABC rules make it increasingly more difficult for small distillers to prosper and grow.That all spirits are sent to Raleigh and shipped from there, regardless of whether there's an ABC store just blocks from the producers. That distillers can sell just five bottles per customer, per year, that they can't make visitors mixed drinks, and that customers at ABC stores can't possibly sample a product for which, considering taxes, the state has priced at $40 or more. Distillers can't ship products directly to buyers. The list goes on; brewers and vintners, though on a separate legislative plane, are hampered by the ABC, too.Many N.C. distillers are proponents of the state ABC, and each has her or his own reasons. Thing is, though, they have a better understanding of system intricacies than do most customers, and they make concessions and take advantage based on that knowledge. Many ABC store workers and managers are great people, who know their inventory and make extraordinary efforts to satisfy customers. But that doesn't apply to all, and these ABC workers have no real incentive to do better. Why would they? It's not their business.North Carolina is one of 17 remaining alcohol control states in the country, and it's also one of the most restrictive.Consumer choice is, at best, limited, and some products just aren't available in North Carolina, regardless of how much someone is willing to pay for them. I've seen some alleged whiskey aficionados respond to that with a shrug, then say they know a store in South Carolina, or that a store manager in Virginia, also a control state, can order a single bottle should they just ask for one.The N.C. ABC system has serious issues requiring immediate and aggressive legislative action. Trying to explain why lawmakers won't move to make sensible reforms is, well, getting kinda old. A nonpartisan commission would replace lawmakers in drawing election maps if a bill introduced Wednesday becomes law.The four primary sponsors of House Bill 69 said at a new conference legislative leaders are beginning to hear the public outcry over decades of redistricting lawsuits. Some cases have reached the U.S. and North Carolina supreme courts, eroding confidence in the integrity of elections and the basic competence of government.H.B. 69 is one of several measures the General Assembly is likely to consider this session, said Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, a primary sponsor of the measure. Some proposals will be statutes and others would amend the state constitution. All have the goal of creating a nonpartisan, transparent system of drawing legislative and congressional districts and limiting the time and money spent on lawsuits.The N.C. Constitution requires the legislature to approve the maps. But it doesn't require lawmakers to draw them. In a state evenly divided between Republican- and Democratic-leaning voters, members of both parties worry about being drawn out of power when districts are reset after the 2020 census, depending on who's in charge of the General Assembly.H.B. 69's answer is a system similar to Iowa's, with a commission designing the maps. An 11-member commission would include four members from each of the two largest political parties serving no more than three four-year terms. The other three members couldn't be affiliated with the two major parties. The plan would enable participation from unaffiliated voters, or members of other recognized parties, such as the Libertarian, Green, or Constitution parties.The commission would hire staff to help draw the maps, hold at least 21 public hearings around the state to receive input, and make computers and software technology available to members of the public who wish to propose maps.The maps would have to comply with state and federal constitutions and the Voting Rights Act. Under the bill districts couldn't favor a political party or incumbent official. Nor could they dilute or increase minority voting strength. They couldn't be skewed based on registered voters' political affiliations, previous election results, demographic information other than population, or incumbents' residences.The commission would submit maps to the General Assembly for approval on up-or-down votes. If the maps are rejected, the commission would draw new ones. If a second version were rejected, a third version could be amended by lawmakers.McGrady filed a nearly identical proposal last year, and bills with similar components have been introduced over the past decade.Jane Pinsky, the director of N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform, one of the driving forces among the nearly 30 groups pushing redistricting reform, acknowledged lawmakers might reject commission-drawn maps they don't like. But if they tried to amend them on a partisan basis voters would see that, and the weight of negative public opinion would prevent such moves.Rep. Robert Reives, D-Chatham, the bill's lead sponsor, said lawmakers don't want judges involved in the legislative branch's constitutional authority to draw electoral districts. Nor does he support what some derisively call Democrats' sue-till-you're blue approach of finding judges aligned with their election lawsuit arguments to get favorable rulings.Reives said unlike legislators, judges aren't elected to serve constituents. Lawmakers are duty-bound to create election maps through a collaborative process.He said H.B. 69 would remove partisanship from the map-drawing process.said Rep. Jon Hardister, R-Guilford, a primary sponsor.The other primary sponsor is Rep. Brian Turner, D-Buncombe.Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause NC, a longtime redistricting reform proponent, said 10 years ago, while they were in the minority, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, proposed legislation much like H.B. 69.Phillips said. The army seizes 2,770 illegal immigrants, 1800 kg of hemp, two rifles, 29 shotguns, and 5000 bullets Press photo The short answer to the core question is that a Green New Deal in some form may well be feasible as well as affordable. Much depends on which formulation is being assessed, over what time, and with what assumptions about overall costs and benefits for the American people, and for that matter, the world. As expected, conservatives have been quick to denounce the proposal as irresponsible and costly. They tend to discount burdens already imposed by a rapidly changing climate, and the enormous risks and costs posed by climate change for the future. A major scientific report from 13 federal agencies last November estimated that the U.S. economy could shrink as much as 10 percent by 2100 because of climate change. According to a recent Brookings Institution study, much of that damage will likely occur in states that voted for Donald Trump. In 2017, record storms, floods and wildfires in the U.S. cost an estimated $306 billion in damages. In 2018, NOAA reported that 14 weather disasters cost the nation at least $1 billion each and killed more than 247 people. The total price tag was nearly $100 billion. WASHINGTON The Green New Deal sounds really good. But as the details start to come out, it looks worse and worse. In fact, the costs would be stupendous, and the damage done by its policies would be catastrophic. First, how much will it cost? One of the main promoters of the Green New Deal, freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said recently that paying for it may require raising the top tax rate on incomes above $10 million to 70 percent. The experts developing the Green New Deal openly admit that it will cost not billions, but rather trillions of dollars. Although how many trillions is open to debate, the fact is that the money will have to come from somewhere. Progressive economists have argued that the federal government can print as much money as it needs and that spending so much will fully mobilize the economy and thereby create growth. How has that worked out in Venezuela? Second, what are these policies that will cost so much? According to Ocasio-Cortez, the plan within 10 years must transition the U.S. economy to become greenhouse gas emissions neutral. Flagstaffs culinary map continues to expand and with it, so do the food options. It just so happens that adding to those options is the ethos of Asia Station, Southsides newest businesses and one of only a handful of Asian-fusion restaurants in town. Owners Kampy and Ladda Khonphian opened the 11-table eatery -- located in the South San Francisco Street location formerly occupied by Streetside Saigon -- on Feb. 5 and are meeting the challenges that accompany introducing a new food spot. The snowstorm hit on our opening day, so it made it a little challenging at first, Ladda said. But inclement weather wont stop the couple, who recently celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary. Both are working daily to make Asia Station something a little different from what Flagstaff currently offers. Our concept is street food, where when you go you can find soup, rice and many things, Ladda said. Were a little different and unique. We already have many good Thai restaurants in town for example, so we wanted to do something a little different. Food from several countries, including Japan, China, Thailand and Vietnam is represented on the menu in an effort to broaden the scope for customers. The Cayuga County coordinator is Dottie Dunn. She started as a volunteer and has now been in this role for nine years. Her professional background includes experience as a registered nurse and as an administrator for a facility that served developmentally disabled adults. Locally, the program currently serves four nursing homes and five adult care facilities. Presently, they are down to five volunteers and would like to at least double that to 10. With 10, they would then be able to have more ombudsmen at some of the countys larger facilities. Dottie said that at its core, the program is ensuring dignity and respect for facility residents. Having the ombudsman program ensures a consistent level of resident education as well as an avenue to ensure patient rights are upheld. The ombudsman attends all resident and family council meetings in order to maintain an awareness of any concerns. They may also provide mediation between the resident and the facility. Ultimately, we are advocates for the residents," she said. According to Dottie, the number of complaints investigated each year is just over 100. Dottie noted that when the program first began, there were maybe 10 complaints a year. She said its not because the issues have increased, but rather because people are now more educated and aware of their rights and options when and if issues surface. Before state lawmakers consider a bill that aims to move New York to 100 percent renewable energy use by 2050, an upstate hearing is planned this week to hear from stakeholders on the proposal. State Sen. Rachel May announced that a regional hearing on the Climate and Community Protection Act will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry's Gateway Center, 1 Forestry Dr., Syracuse. Any stakeholders interested in testifying should email bumpus@nysenate.gov. May, D-Syracuse, pushed for the hearing after the initial called for three hearings, but none in upstate outside Albany. There were hearings held last week in New York City and on Long Island. "Central and western New York feel the impacts of climate change every day, and we as legislators should make every effort to include as many voices as possible when crafting this law," May said in a statement. "Changes from the (Climate and Community Protection Act) will be far-reaching and felt in all corners of our communities." During her congressional campaign in 2018, Dana Balter often said the education system should focus more on civics. Now, three months after Election Day, she is launching her own effort to achieve that goal. Balter is the founder of Enter the Public Square, a nonprofit organization with a mission to "build civic engagement with Americans ages 3 to 103." The group's office is located inside The University Building in Syracuse. It will be a largely volunteer-driven operation. Balter will receive a salary for her role. The inspiration for establishing Enter the Public Square, Balter said in a pair of interviews with The Citizen, was her experience as a candidate. A Democrat, she challenged Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko in the 24th Congressional District race. She lost by five points. What she witnessed campaigning across the region was a resurgence of civic engagement, she explained. Her observations were confirmed when she would watch national news coverage of the elections and see what was happening in other parts of the country. After the election, she was concerned that the levels of interest and participation would decline. Yemen's government and Huthi rebels have agreed on the first phase of a pullback of forces from the key city of Hodeida, in a deal the United Nations described Sunday as important progress. The redeployment from Hodeida is a critical part of a ceasefire deal reached in December in Sweden that calls on the government and Huthis to move forces away from ports and parts of city. The fragile truce deal marks the first step toward ending a devastating war that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. Following two days of talks in Hodeida city, the government and Huthis finalized a deal on the first phase of the pullback and also agreed in principle on the second phase, a UN statement said. The talks were led by Danish General Michael Lollesgaard as chair of a redeployment coordination committee (RCC) that includes the government and the Huthis. "After lengthy but constructive discussions facilitated by the RCC Chair, the parties reached an agreement on Phase 1 of the mutual redeployment of forces," said the UN statement. The sides made "important progress on planning for the redeployment of forces" but no date was given to begin the demilitarization. "The parties also agreed, in principle, on Phase 2 of the mutual redeployment, pending additional consultations within their respective leadership." The first phase provides for a pullback from the ports of Hodeida, Saleef, Ras Issa and from parts of the city where there are humanitarian facilities. Under the Stockholm agreement, the pullback was supposed to have taken place two weeks after the ceasefire went into force on December 18, but that deadline was missed. - Getting aid into Yemen - The United Nations is hoping that a de-escalation in Hodeida will allow desperately-needed food and medical aid to reach millions in need in Yemen. The Red Sea port is the entry point for the bulk of imported goods and relief aid to Yemen, which the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. A new round is planned within a week to finalize details on the second phase of redeployment, the UN statement said. The ceasefire and a Hodeida pullback agreed in Stockholm have been hailed as a breakthrough toward ending Yemen's nearly four-year war. Yemen's rebels have been mired in a war with government forces backed since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition. The talks on Saturday and Sunday were the fourth meeting held to try to agree on the modalities of the pullback of forces since the ceasefire came into force on December 18. The United Nations is also brokering a separate set of talks on an exchange of thousands of prisoners that is seen as a key confidence-building measure in the peace process. UN envoy Martin Griffiths, who brokered the Stockholm deal, is due to report to the Security Council on Tuesday. About 10,000 people have been killed in the war, according to figures from the World Health Organization, but rights groups say the death toll is much higher. The redeployment from Hodeida is a critical part of a ceasefire deal reached in December in Sweden that calls on the government and Huthis to move forces away from ports and parts of city Members of the Yemeni pro-government forces walk through destruction in an industrial district in the eastern outskirts of the port city of Hodeida in November 2018 UN envoy Martin Griffiths (c), who brokered the Stockholm deal, is due to report to the Security Council About 10,000 people have been killed in the war, according to figures from the World Heath Organisation, but rights groups say the death toll is much higher British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday vowed to speak to every EU member state leader "over the coming days", as she wrote to Conservative MPs to appeal for unity over Brexit. In the letter to her fractious colleagues, excerpts of which were released by Downing Street late Saturday, May urged the party to "move beyond what divides us". The embattled British leader said ruling Tories need to sacrifice "personal preferences" for the "higher service of the national interest". The plea came after May this week suffered another parliamentary defeat over Brexit, suggesting a shortlived period of party unity over reforming her draft EU divorce deal may not survive. On Thursday night, MPs rejected a motion expressing support for May's efforts to seek changes to her under-fire agreement, after members of her own Conservative party abstained. In her letter to lawmakers Saturday, the prime minister called the vote "disappointing" but insisted she would keep seeking to secure changes to the so-called backstop arrangement in the deal. Her office revealed she planned "to speak to the leader of every EU member state in the coming days". "I do not underestimate how deeply or how sincerely colleagues hold the views which they do on this important issue," May told Tories, referring to Brexit. "But I believe that a failure to make the compromises necessary... will let down the people who sent us to represent them," she warned. "Our party can do what it has done so often in the past: move beyond what divides us and come together behind what unites us." May confirmed she would return to Brussels next week for further talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay will on Monday meet EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier to discuss proposals put forward by a new "working group" of British lawmakers exploring alternatives to the backstop, according to her office. Meanwhile Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will on Tuesday make a speech "setting out what changes would be required to eliminate the legal risk we could be trapped in backstop indefinitely", Downing Street said. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, but its parliament last month rejected a draft divorce deal May negotiated with the bloc, prompting fears the country could crash out without a deal next month. In a letter to her fractious colleagues, British Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured February 13, 2019) urged the party to "move beyond what divides us" Flow chart describing what might happen next in the Brexit process A teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria but now wants to return to Britain on Sunday gave birth in a refugee camp, as European governments grapple with what to do with returning jihadists ahead of a US troop pullout. Shamima Begum, whose fate has stirred controversy ever since she and two friends fled London to join the terror network in 2015 aged just 15, told Sky News she had delivered a boy. "I just gave birth so I'm really tired," the 19-year-old said as she made a renewed appeal to be allowed back to Britain with her newborn baby. "I'm afraid he might even die in this camp. I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I've been through," she said. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I left. I just was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they let me come back," she added. Her case comes as European nations struggle with how to deal with jihadists eager to return home following the disintegration of Islamic State's "caliphate" in eastern Syria. US President Donald Trump again demanded on Saturday that they take back hundreds of captured IS fighters. Trump said on Twitter that the United States was asking Britain and other continental allies "to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial". The demand came as he prepared -- ahead of the pullout of US troops -- to declare the group's so-called "caliphate" destroyed, with US-led Arab and Kurdish forces close to capturing its last Syrian territorial holdout. "The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe," Trump added. "Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!" - 'I don't regret it' - Begum, previously gave birth to two other children after marrying in Syria. Both children died. Leading politicians, including interior minister Sajid Javid, have vowed to prevent her return, pointing to her lack of remorse for joining the terror group. Begum told Sky News she was aware of IS's brutal tactics, including conducting beheadings, but did not regret going to Syria. "I knew about those things and I was OK with it at first," she said. "They take care of you... you're living under Islamic law. "I don't regret it because it's changed me as a person, made me stronger, tougher." The teenager, who said she had had no contact with British officials, added the government should not block her homecoming because she was "just a housewife" while there. "I never made propaganda, I never encouraged people to come to Syria. "They don't really have proof that I did anything that is dangerous," she said. - 'Dangerous individuals' - Europe has long been grappling with how to respond to foreign fighters, and their supporters or dependants, caught in Syria. However the looming US departure has created a deadline for those governments whose citizens joined IS and have now been captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Britain's government appears split on the issue. Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright, a former attorney general -- the country's chief legal adviser -- told the BBC on Sunday that it was "obliged, at some stage at least, to take them back". He noted it was "a matter of international law and domestic law". However, writing in The Sunday Times -- under the headline "if you run away to join ISIS, I will use all my power to stop you coming back" -- Javid insisted the government should strip "dangerous individuals of their British citizenship". He said Britain had already exercised this power more than 100 times. "In considering what actions need to be taken now, I have to think about the safety and security of children living in our country," Javid wrote. Other European countries that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention are now being forced to confront the situation. "All German citizens -- including those who are suspected of fighting for the so-called Islamic state -- have a fundamental right to travel back into Germany," a German foreign ministry source said Sunday. Belgian justice minister Koen Geens told Flemish broadcaster VRT there was the need for a "European solution" to the issue, but appeared irked by Trump's blunt call. "It would have been nice for friendly nations to have these kinds of questions raised through the usual diplomatic channels rather than a tweet in the middle of the night," he said in Dutch. Shamima Begum fled London with two friends to join the terror network in 2015 when she was just 15 British teenagers Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum (R) at Gatwick Airport en route to Syria in 2015 The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are battling a jihadist counteroffensive as they push to retake the last morsel of territory from the Islamic State group in eastern Syria Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron has experimented before with styles and genres, from space epic "Gravity" to road trip coming-of-age tale "Y Tu Mama Tambien" to fantasy flick "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." But with "Roma," his highly acclaimed autobiographical love letter to his childhood, he flipped the script, so to speak -- a lot of the time, the actors didn't even have the whole script. He filmed chronologically, in black and white, and did the filming himself. Sometimes he gave the cast contradictory instructions to see what would happen, and if it would yield movie magic. Based on the 10 nominations his film earned for the Oscars on February 24 -- including four for Cuaron alone, for best picture, director, original screenplay and cinematography -- it seems he did something right. The project is perhaps the most personal of his career -- a near-retelling of his childhood in Mexico City, in the Roma neighborhood, at 21 Tepeji Street. Unlike some of his Hollywood fare, the film was made in Mexico, by Mexicans. The dialogue is in Spanish and the indigenous Mixtec language. "It was a process that I did not know how to pull off -- reinventing and learning as I went was fundamental," the 57-year-old filmmaker, already an Oscar winner for best director and film editing for "Gravity," told AFP. Cuaron wanted to make a film like no other in his career, which is why he went to extremes, like filming chronologically -- very rare for a feature film -- and not sharing the full script. - 'Chaos' on purpose - "Roma" focuses on Cuaron's childhood nanny, a young woman from an indigenous community who gets pregnant after her first sexual experiences -- played by newcomer and Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio. The film also examines the disintegration of his parents' marriage, taking a wider look at domestic dramas and societal hierarchies in 1970s Mexico. Casting the film was part of Cuaron's reinvention: he insisted that the actors physically resemble the people they were playing -- usually not a requirement. As a result, most of the cast are newcomers to the industry, like Aparicio, who ended up at the casting call by chance, as her sister was the one planning to audition. Each morning, during the more than 100 days on set -- Cuaron's longest film shoot to date -- the director gave some cast members guidelines that did not mesh with those given to others. "Those instructions were contradicting each other, so when I was running the camera, it was chaos, like a traffic jam -- but that's life, life is not neat," Cuaron said at a directors' symposium in January. One such scene was when Cuaron's mother asks the children to write letters to their father, who they believe is on a work trip. They do not realize their parents are separated. The director recounted that he told Marina de Tavira, who plays his mother, to make sure the eldest son "writes a really good letter to the father" -- a supposed representation of their close bond. "And then I went secretly to the kid and said, 'The moment your mother starts speaking to you, just leave,'" he added. He offered similarly confusing directions in a scene when Cleo, the nanny, has a stillborn child. "My job as a director is to create these moments so people are just reacting the way they would react in real life," he said. - 'I don't want it to be like that' - De Tavira, a veteran Mexican actress who also earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress, told AFP that Cuaron's new style "required a period of adjustment." Not knowing the script "helped a lot because there was no technical process of crafting the character, but rather it ended up being more just the result of reality, or diving head first into the ocean Alfonso gave us." Cuaron said the resulting improvisation captivated him. "I had done small bits of improv in the past, but nothing at this level, and it's something I will continue to experiment with," he said. He used a similar method to handle the production design. When designer Eugenio Caballero, an Oscar winner for "Pan's Labyrinth," got the call from Cuaron, the first thing he asked for was the script. "He told me, 'No -- it's written but I don't want it to be like that,'" Caballero recalled. After talking over long hours with Cuaron, he recreated the director's childhood home, right down to its Rationalist architecture. Attention to detail was key. "What was on the table, what kind of street vendor was outside the house, what kind of noises did he hear -- that kind of thing," Caballero told AFP. "From there, we built the movie." "Roma" director Alfonso Cuaron-- posing here for AFP at a photo session before the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon on February 4, 2019 -- says he intentionally changed the rules of filmmaking on the personal project Alfonso Cuaron won an Oscar for Best Director in 2014 for space epic "Gravity" "Roma" star Yalitza Aparicio (L) posed with director Alfonso Cuaron (R) and his real-life nanny Libo Rodriguez -- played by Aparicio in the film -- at the premiere during the New York Film Festival in October 2018 Mexican director Alfonso Cuarn (L), actress Yalitza Aparicio (C) and actress Marina de Tavira (R) pose at the Los Angeles premiere of "Roma" in December 2018 -- Cuaron asked the actresses to do a fair bit of improvisation "Roma" production designer Eugenio Caballero worked hard to recreate the Mexico City home where Alfonso Cuaron grew up -- now, tourists take pictures in front of it Tobacco giants Philip Morris and British American Tobacco have formed partnerships with their scientific research subsidiaries and Formula 1 teams Ferrari and McLaren more than a decade after cigarette advertising was banned from the sport. US giant Philip Morris International (PMI), whose Marlboro brand was long associated with Ferrari, re-entered the sport last October, branding Ferrari cars with "Mission Winnow" and a logo that hints at the white-on-red triangles of the old Marlboro packs. "Mission Winnow is aimed at illustrating our commitment to constant development. This initiative shines light on the new Philip Morris and our partners and our commitment and common desire to develop for the best," the group's communications director Tommaso di Giovanni explained. Since the Japan Grand Prix in October the Ferrari cars, drivers' helmets and outfits have featured the Mission Winnow logo of three white arrows. Since 2006, Formula 1's ruling body FIA has been firmly opposed to any advertising or sponsoring of cigarettes or tobacco. But with teams struggling to meet their budget requirements, the allure of advertising revenue from so-called "Big Tobacco" is clear to see. McLaren cars are to feature advertising for "A Better Tomorrow", a British American Tobacco (BAT) scientific research subsidiary linked to less controversial electronic cigarettes. BAT also said it would carefully study the varying rules in different countries which govern tobacco branding. "We still need to determine which brand activations to implement in which countries, but we will of course respect regulatory environments," their spokesman said. - Marlboro men - Opposition to the partnerships between motor racing and tobacco groups, or any flaunting of anti-tobacco advertising, is mounting. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation said it was concerned Philip Morris branding on Ferrari cars and driver uniforms at the Japan Grand Prix had breached Australian regulations when it was broadcast in the country. "The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has been in regular communication on this very important matter with all key stakeholders. "The AGPC works to ensure that the hallmark Victorian events we stage meet the requirements of government," the AGPC told AFP this week. Di Giovanni insisted Philipp Morris had not broken any laws. "The logo on the outfits and cars and on our internet site comply with laws in Australia and in the state of Victoria," he said. "We are currently working with the organisers to understand their concerns," he said. A spokesman for the AGPC told AFP the ball was in the court of the Victoria Dept of Health and Human Services and that the department and the Grand Prix organisers were in touch with Ferrari on the issue of whether the Mission/Winnow logo contravenes the Australian ban on tobacco advertising. Meanwhile the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirmed they are looking into broadcasts by Australian networks of the Japan Grand Prix. The ACMA is investigating broadcasts of the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix broadcast on Network Ten and Fox Sports. The investigation is ongoing. Ferraris car SF90 car for the 2019 season features the Mission Winnow logo Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel (left) wearing "Mission Winnow" on his overalls at last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Ferrari and their prominent Marlboro sponsorship in 2006 Residents in Adelaides west say hoon drivers are playing Russian roulette with peoples lives, jumping their cars over a railway line. Those who live near the crossing in Grange are angry authorities havent been able to stop them and fear it is only a matter of time before someone is killed. People just put their foot down at the railway line and they jump and you can hear them and they bottom out, a resident named Jenny told 7News. The residents claim hoons put their foot down and become airborne over the crossing. Source: 7News And on Australia Day the dangerous practice almost turned deadly. We just heard this big vroom,one woman recalled. The car came up over the railway line, about 20 metres airborne, come across, clipped the tree, took out the (inaudible) pole, and then into the tree behind us, resident Shaun Langdon told 7News. Incredibly two teenagers inside the car crawled out of the wreckage uninjured. There was an accident in the area on Australia Day. Source: 7News The local council recently reduced the speed limit on Charles Sturt Avenue from 50 to 40, but the residents say hoons just ignore it. Put a stop there, put some lights there maybe, like a proper crossing, one resident suggested. Put a bump, a speed bump, maybe further on down the road, another said. Police say they are investigating. The driver of a French cash delivery van who made off with about three million euros ($3.2 million) was charged and remanded in custody on Saturday, prosecutors said. 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. 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. A suspected accomplice, a 29-year-old woman, was also charged and held in custody on Saturday, the prosecutors' office in Bobigny said. The driver of a French cash delivery van disappeared at the wheel of his armoured car, which was found soon afterwards without the bags of cash containing about three million euros An investigation by Kramer into the K8.5 million damage bill tabled by acting speaker Jeffrey Komal and approved by MPs showed the bill was fraught with irregularities and inflated costs. The government decided to pay the assailants K300 sorry money in addition to the delayed allowance but last week finance minister James Marape said the government was looking at deducting the K300 allowance as security force members contribution to offset the damage to parliament caused in the rampage. The damage was caused by security personnel who laid siege to parliament when they were not paid allowances following last years APEC conference in Port Moresby. KUNDIAWA A stunning report by Papua New Guineas no nonsense corruption fighter Bryan Kramer MP yesterday suggested that an K8.5 million bill for damage to parliament was a scam to defraud the state by people related to prime minister Peter ONeill. Of the K8.5 million approved, K3.3 million was for the repairs of elevators and K2.2 million was for access control systems and water coolers. Kramer reported: I carried out an inspection of the lifts and confirmed [there] was no damage caused during the attack on parliament. A company connected to ONeill put in a false claim with the plan to profit from it by blaming the security forces. These costs are nothing but a con job, Kramer said. While confirming there was damage to the access control system, Kramer said the K1.537 million cost was highly inflated. He said the cost estimate should have been K275, 000. The video phones cost K82, 000 in 2017 but the claim was for K607,000 - a 640% increase in less than two years. The replacement cost of the four water coolers was K88, 000 which Kramer said was absurd. The company engaged by parliament to carry out inspection and damage assessment, Port Moresby Lift Services, is said to be owned by prime minister Peter ONeills cousin Peter [Oscar] Yamuna from Ialibu-Pangia. It has operated from a small office on the second floor of Parliament House rent free since 2011 and planned to defraud the state of K3.3 million for elevators that were not damaged by members of the armed forces. Simac Ltd, a company registered in Kundiawa and 50-50 shareholding by Mack Banai and Simeon Wai, engaged to carry out an independent inspection and damage assessment of the elevators, also came under fire by Bryan Kramer. So a company based in Kundiawa is now carrying out inspections and damage assessment of lift systems in the nations capital. Correct me if I am wrong I wasnt aware elevators even existed in Kundiawa, Kramer said. This is another serious corruption allegation involving ONeill and Kramers report, which went viral on Facebook, had many readers asking the prime minister for an immediate explanation. The nations corruption watchdogs, the Ombudsmen Commission and the Police Fraud And Criminal Investigation Unit, now need to carry out an immediate investigation and make sure the people involved are promptly prosecuted. 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 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!) Tusk will visit Kyiv, Lviv and will take part in the celebration in the Verkhovna Rada Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, is to visit Ukraine to mark the fifth anniversary of the Revolution of Dignity on February 18-20. Polish radio reported this. According to the message, the President of the European Commission is due to arrive to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Euromaidan Revolution. Tusk will visit Kyiv and Lviv. He also intends to take part in the celebration in the Verkhovna Rada and in the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. Donald Tusk will meet with the Vice-President of Ukraine. If you are against the rule of law and independent judiciary, if you place the state and the nation against, or above, the freedom and dignity of the individual, if you wish for conflict and divisions globally and inside the European Union, if you support Putin and attack Ukraine, if you are in favor of the aggressor and against the victim, you are not a Christian Democrat. If you want to replace the Western model of liberal democracy with an Eastern model of authoritarian democracy, you are not a Christian Democrat. We all want to win the upcoming elections. But let us remember that at stake in these elections are not benefits and jobs, but the protection of our fundamental values. Because without them, our victory will make no sense, Tusk said at the Summit of the European Peoples Party Congress in Helsinki. We will not give interviews or answer to the questions by the Russian press until they apologize to Ukraine, - Poroshenko President Petro Poroshenko stated that he would give an interview to the Russian press provided they apologize to Ukraine. Poroshenko said during the Munich security conference, as RBK-Ukraine reports. According to the President, the Russian TV-channels can interview him only when they apologize to Ukraine. We will not give interviews or answer to the questions by the Russian press until they apologize to Ukraine, - Poroshenko said to one of the Russian journalists. Ukraine's President is at the Munich security conference right now. While delivering a speech, Poroshenko that Ukrainian elections differentiate from the Russian ones, because in Ukraine it is the democratic process and no one knows the winner beforehand. As we reported earlier, on the eve Petro Poroshenko said that the international partners of our country agreed on the so-called Azov sanctions package against Russia and it will be adopted with the start of the new working week. The meeting of the NATO Council will take place in Ukraine soon. The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg within the framework of Munich security conference in Germany. The President of Ukraine has informed Barnier on the developments in Donbas and the failure of Russia to comply with the Minsk agreements. The President urged him to support the introduction of a new "Azov package" of EU sanctions against Moscow. Kurchenko will be interrogated as a suspect in large-scale embezzlement Open source The Prosecutor Generals Office summons businessman Serhiy Kurchenko for the interrogation. The official website of the Prosecutor Generals Office reports this. According to the report, Kurchenko is to appear in the cabinet 808- of the Prosecutor Generals Office at the Riznytska Street 13/15, Kyiv, at 2:00 PM on February, 22. The officers want to interrogate him as a suspect in the case opened on November 16, 2016 "under Part 1 of Article 255, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 209, Part 2 of Article 205, Part 3, Article 212 and other articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," the report said. This is a criminal proceeding, which investigates the foundation of a criminal organization dealing with the large-scale embezzlement, as well as the legalization of illegally obtained income and tax evasion. As we reported earlier, Kyiv Pechersk court granted the request of the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine on the application of a preventive measure in the form of arrest against fugitive businessman Serhiy Kurchenko. Fugitive ex-Minister of Revenue and Duties of Ukraine Oleksandr Klymenko and Serhiy Kurchenko caused $7.43 billion losses to Ukraine. Serhiy Kurchenko left for Russia after Euromaidan events. The Ukrainian authorities have blocked the assets of oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko who is on the international wanted list. Serhiy Kurchenko filed a lawsuit against Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko for slander about his ties with Mikheil Saakashvili. The Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine does not rule the possibility of changing some the dates of some Orthodox feasts, but only then, when it is appropriate. The Metropolitan said during his visit to Chernivtsi, as Ukrinform reports. We will implement new reforms into church normally and gradually. It is not going to be very fast. But I believe that we can add change to our calendar, which is not Christian dogma. Whenever we see the society is ready for changes, we will do that. However, now it is not topical yet. First of all, we have to educate and explain to people that the calendar is not a dogma. But we have to work hard in order to achieve this, Epifaniy said. Besides, the Metropolitan stressed that a person, who visits the church for the first time, should not be criticized for their look. As an example, he mentioned the obligatory wearing a kerchief by women to the church. We have to be closer to people. Of course, we honor the traditions and we will not violate them. Although, I believe that we should not forbid to come to church to those, who come for the first time. We have to be open and to accept the person despite their appearance. In other words, if they come for the first time, they will come for the second time, for the third time and so on, and they will realize that their look is inappropriate for the church. However, if say that in the very beginning to the person, they will not come to the church anymore, Epifaniy added. Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, and Emmanuel Macron, the President of France Le Monde President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin complained during the phone conversation with the President of France Emmanuel Macron about the ban on Russian observers to come to Ukrainian elections. The press service of Kremlin reports this. While exchanging the thoughts on Ukraine, Putin brought Macrons attention to the active anti-Russian campaign by Ukrainian authorities on the coming Ukrainian elections. It is emphasized that the Ukrainian side decided not to include the Russian observers in the observing list and also refused from organizing polling stations in Russia, what contradicts to the general and democratic rules of OSCE, the report said. Besides, the parties agreed to pursue further work within Normandy format, the group of settling the conflict in Ukraine down, which is traditionally called in Russian Kremlin internally Ukrainian conflict. As we reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine prohibited observers from the Russian Federation to participate in the election process in Ukraine. Law #9524 was adopted by 232 votes. It is established that a person, who is a citizen of a state aggressor and a person, whose offer is initiated or submitted by a state aggressor cannot be the observers at the elections (including the representatives of the foreign states). President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stated he would issue an order to the State Border Guard Service not to let Russian observers to the presidential elections. The election campaign has officially started on December 31, 2018. Registration of the candidates would last until February 4, 2019, and on February 9, the final list of presidential candidates will appear. The candidates would be able to withdraw his candidacy until March 7, 2019. Talk about it Education on sexual reproductive health needs further attention and investment in Nepal The Head of State outlined that no one can know the victor of the elections in Ukraine beforehand Current Ukraine's President and the candidate for 2019 presidential elections Petro Poroshenko claimed he was sure about great results of the elections. The President said it on the Munich security conference, as RBK-Ukraine reports. Im the President of a free and democratic country. We are not the Russian Federation. In Russia, you know for sure who is going to win the elections. Concerning our country, no one knows who is going to become the next president. However, Im pretty sure that we are going to have great results of the presidential elections, Poroshenko said. The election campaign has officially started on December 31, 2018. Registration of the candidates was closed on February 4, 2019, and on February 9, the final list of presidential candidates is expected to appear. The candidates would be able to withdraw their candidacy until March 7, 2019. As we reported earlier, Ukraine's MIA head Arsen Avakov states political candidates fuel hatred among society. A few days ago pro-SBU (for which read, pro-Poroshenko) far-right organization C14, included in the American terrorist base, came with rubber-bullet handguns, knives, and Teren 4 pepper spray (carrying of which requires special permission) to Tymoshenkos meeting, held in Kyiv downtown, allegedly to discuss with president candidate Yulia Tymoshenko who killed Handziuk. Central Election Commission of Ukraine closed all polling stations in Russia, particularly, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk. Open source The door of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Kryvyi Rih was set on fire with the help of an incendiary mixture, the press service of the UOC-MP reports. This happened on February 15 at around 19:30. Vandals tried to burn the temple with the help of an incendiary mixture, which led to a fire and serious damage to the central entrance doors and the icon of the Ascension of the Lord," as said in a statement. Policemen began a pre-judicial investigation on p. 2 Art. 194 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Intentional damage to property by arson"). Earlier the special services of Russia tried to destabilize the religious situation in Ukraine. They offered money to people who could set fire to the church buildings of the Moscow Patriarchate. Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has reported it on Facebook. The Security Service has managed to establish that the Russian special services are looking for people who can set fire to the church buildings of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). They offered $ 2,000 for the arson, which they promised to transfer to a card account opened in one of the Ukrainian banks. The Russian special services promised to send money only after they see the video. The message says that you need to draw one of the proposed symbols on the building and start shooting so that they can see the moment of fire. Russian special services needed only 10 seconds of video of the temple on fire. They emphasize that this should be only the church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and which one is unimportant. The customer requires from executor to come to the place with the phone, but without a SIM card. At the same time, they are asked to put the phone in airplane mode so that it does not accidentally connect to Wi-Fi. Employees of the Ukrainian Security Service claim that the recruitment of people is still ongoing. February, 16, one Ukrainian serviceman died and one was wounded as a result of the hostile attack in Donbas conflict zone. The Joint Forces Operation (JFO) HQ reported this on Facebook. The Russian militants violated the ceasefire regime 6 times, they also used Minsk-banned weaponry over 24 hours. In the East operational group action zone, the enemy fired four times: grenade launchers of various systems and small arms near Avdiivka town; anti-tank grenade launchers and heavy machine guns near Pavlopil village; anti-tank grenade launchers and small arms near Hnutove settlement. In the North group area, the enemy attacked our positions near Krymske settlement twice: with 82 mm mortar, infantry fighting vehicles BMP-1, manual anti-tank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms; and the second time with heavy machine guns of various system and heavy machine guns, the report said. Ukrainian Armed Forces stopped the attack by opening fire as well. According to surveillance, five Russian militants were killed and four more were wounded on February, 16. Since midnight on February, 17, the enemy fired twice. In the East operational group action zone, the enemy fired with manual anti-tank grenade launchers and small arms near Vodiane settlement. In the North group area, the enemy attacked our positions with 82 mm mortar and heavy machine guns near Katerynivka village. As a result of the attack, one Ukrainian soldier was wounded. During the Russian aggression, 2945 Ukrainian servicemen died in the Donbas conflict zone, 948 of them died after signing the Minsk agreements. Poroshenko stated on the Munich security conference, as Ukrinform reports. 2945 Ukrainian militants died in Donbas conflict zone for the whole period, 948 of them were killed after signing the Minsk treaty, the president noted. He also added that over last 24 hours one more Ukrainian serviceman died as well. According to the Head of State, after the USA has sold Javelin to the Ukrainian army, the number of attacks reduced greatly. He said that the very fact of the existence of such weaponry at the Ukrainian side frightens on the psychological level the Russian militants to attack very often. As we reported earlier, on February, 16, one Ukrainian serviceman died and one was wounded as a result of Russian attack in Donbas conflict zone. Ukrainian Armed Forces stopped the attack by opening fire as well. According to surveillance, five Russian militants were killed and four more were wounded on February, 16. Since midnight on February, 17, the enemy fired twice. In the East operational group action zone, the enemy fired with manual anti-tank grenade launchers and small arms near Vodiane settlement. In the North group area, the enemy attacked our positions with 82 mm mortar and heavy machine guns near Katerynivka village. As a result of the attack, one Ukrainian soldier was wounded. Istoria jantelor in industria auto In anul 3.500 inainte de Hristos, omul a facut cea mai mare inventie din istorie: roata! Daca exista un element pentru care ar trebui sa fim recunoscatori pentru existenta sa, acesta este roata, marea inventie care s-a nascut in epoca paleolitica, una dintre primele artefacte proiectate care au condus continuu civilizatia noastra. [citeste mai departe] Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 01:29:06|Editor: zh Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- American and Chinese scientists have called for international collaboration in science research at the ongoing annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to build more trust between two countries. It came after a Chinese elementary particle and accelerator physicist making a roadshow for China's megascience projects in high energy physics at a seminar. Wang Yifang, director of the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reviewed how China and the United States worked together to complete a neutrino experiment at China's Daya Bay Reactor and envisioned to have more such cooperation in a cosmic ray observatory project called LHAASO and a more ambitious circular collider in the pipeline. "Actually, in past 30 years, no large-scale high-energy physics project was done by one country," Wang told Xinhua. "And now it is the time for newly developed emerging countries to contribute more to science." Wang was echoed by Caroline Wagner, a science policy expert at Ohio State University. Wagner told Xinhua that the "openness" was critical for basic science research and the key to it was "to share," at all levels. International collaboration is a major topic on this year's AAAS meeting with a theme of "Science Transcending Boundaries." It came against looming challenges for international scientific partnership. Peter Michelson, a Stanford physicist, attributed them to an era of renewed nationalism and anti-globalization and of evidence-based research losing ground. "The best collaborators may be in other countries, and former graduate students and postdocs are potential collaborators," said Michelson. However, a memo released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last November restricted DOE-funded researchers working in "emerging research areas and technologies" from collaborating with colleagues from unspecified "sensitive" countries, which may block many foreign research cooperation and cast shadows on others. Ali Khounsary, a research professor of physics at Illinois Institute of Technology, lodged his objection at a seminar, saying choosing collaborators by their citizenship "unbelievable." "Cooperation in basic science should be immunized from politics and developed in a global way since we have common interest, common benefits and risks, common tools and methods and common issues," said Wang. Michelson told Xinhua that strong international partnership would become more important for future scientific progress as science facilities come with increasing size, complexity and cost. Michelson took delight in talking about a collaboration between China and the United States to have discovered the millisecond pulsar for the first time. In April last year, China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) discovered a radio millisecond pulsar coincident with the unassociated gamma-ray source in the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) point-source list. More than one-third of investment and researchers of Daya Bay Reactor neutrino experiment came from the United States, according to Wang. Scientists at the meeting did not consider international collaboration a conflicting thing against international competition. Jonathan Adams, an analyst at Philadelphia-based Clarivate Analytics, told Xinhua that the top institutions, which are the major players in science research, "need to recruit talent globally" to gain their leadership. Wang said that the competition between different groups and projects were incentives for science progress, but within a group or a project, researchers with diversified background could produce better results, or in Michelson's word "collaborate to compete." The U.S. institutional authors collaborate most frequently with authors from China, currently the largest producer of publications. China accounted for 22.9 percent of U.S. internationally coauthored publications in 2016, according to the latest science and engineering indicator released by the U.S. National Science Board. Some Americans are skeptical about U.S.-China cooperation, partly due to lack of trust, said Wagner, but "we should collaborate to build trust," "rather than stop it until we have trust." AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and its annual meetings promote communication among policymakers, researchers and the public. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 06:19:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI/TUNIS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Libyan security on Sunday freed 14 Tunisian workers kidnapped by gunmen a few days ago in the western city of Zawiya, some 45 km west of the capital Tripoli. "The security directorate of the city of Zawiya managed to free the Tunisian workers. Communication is underway with the concerned authorities to ensure they return safely to their families," said Zawiya security directorate. The security directorate confirmed that the workers are in good health, and published images of them on its Facebook page. Meanwhile, the Tunisian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the release of the kidnapped workers and expressed gratitude to the Libyan government for its rescue efforts. The Tunisian workers were kidnapped on Thursday evening in Zawiya by unidentified gunmen who took them to an unknown location, according to Zawiya security directorate. The gunmen demanded the release of a Libyan arrested in Tunisia in exchange for the kidnapped workers, according to Tunisian media. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 06:14:51|Editor: zh Video Player Close BELGRADE, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- From the sounds and dances of the wild Horqin prairie of Inner Mongolia, over melodies of ancient instruments, to contemporary ballet of Guangdong -- Serbian audience will remember this year's Spring Festival gala for the unique opportunity to familiarize with the cultural diversity of China. The ballet "Awakening", performed on Sunday evening in the capital of Serbia by the Guangdong Song and Dance Theater from China, was only the most recent in a series of well-received cultural events, staged in partnership between the two countries to mark the Chinese Spring Festival in Serbia. The audience at Serbia's National Theater had a rare opportunity to enjoy a ballet which combines Chinese traditional performing art with elements of Tai Chi, telling a story about a young girl that struggles to overcome challenges and limitations of the pastoral environment in which she was born. After watching the show, many visitors had words of praise for the elegance and precision of Chinese performers. "Dancers dressed in black moved like one. I guess that they represent reflections of the inner world of the main protagonist. It seems very effective and I enjoyed the show," said Nikola, a spectator. Milica Gojic, another spectator told Xinhua that she finds contemporary ballet much more expressive than the classical and that the "Chinese dancers brought the minimalist choreography to perfection". "Their bodies are flexible and their movement appears so natural and elegant. It was a real delight to watch Guangdong (Song and Dance) Theater perform here in Serbia." A day earlier, on Saturday, Hinggan Primitive Ensemble from the Horqin Prairie of China's Inner Mongolia held a concert at the Kombank Dvorana Concert Hall in Belgrade for an audience of several hundred people, including the Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo. The audience was moved by their melancholic songs about love, nature of the prairie, the upcoming spring, songs from family and everyday life such as the lullaby and drinking, as well as heroic ones about Genghis Khan or the famous wrestler Durenzhana. "The music sounded as if a cavalry was storming through the hall, accompanied by delicate voices that convey stories about the worldview of Inner Mongolian people. I can see that China is rich in exotic folklore and that the instruments of this ensemble quite resemble Serbian traditional gusle (wooden fiddle)," said Dragana Bosic, a spectator. Branko Ristanovic said: "I enjoyed the performance. I was able to feel the emotions in the songs without understanding one single word in them. Performances like this make us feel closer to distant countries like China, and also teach us about the way of life of people who still cherish their prairie, nature and traditions." The festive atmosphere for the Year of the Pig was initiated on January 24 with a concert of masters on Chinese traditional instruments -- guzheng, pipa and erhu, while a Chinese Festival of Lights was opened here at the Kalemegdan Fortress on the evening of Feb. 4 local time, Chinese New Year's Eve, just one hour after Beijing welcomed the first day of the New Year. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 06:14:50|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's warring parties have agreed on the first phase of troop withdrawal from the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, said the United Nations on Sunday. Representatives of the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels met in the UN-facilitated talks in Hodeidah on Saturday and Sunday, and reached agreement on phase 1 of the troop withdrawal, said the press office of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "After lengthy but constructive discussions facilitated by the RCC chair, the parties reached an agreement on phase 1 of the mutual redeployment of forces. The parties also agreed, in principle, on phase 2 of the mutual redeployment, pending additional consultations within their respective leadership," said the office in a note to correspondents. The next round of talks within the framework of the RCC (Redeployment Coordination Committee) is expected to convene within a week with the aim to finalize an agreement on phase 2, it said. The RCC talks were aimed at implementing a deal on troop withdrawal from the city of Hodeidah and ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa as set out in the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018. Serving justice Once upon a time, there lived a family of four; a father and a mother and their two sons. They lived a happy life. But as they say, happiness is nothing but a prelude to troubles. Troubles soon came knocking on their doors. When the younger son was just seven years old, the mother passed away. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 06:09:50|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Aminah Mohsen (R), 70, receives medical treatment for H1N1 in a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, on Feb. 17, 2019. Aminah Mohsen is suffering from swine flu, also known as H1N1 influenza. Plagued by cholera, malnutrition, diphtheria and now swine flu, the Arab country is unable to cope with the most deadly epidemics as its four years of civil war has almost destroyed its healthcare system. (Xinhua/Mohamed al-Azaki) The photo goes with the article titled "Feature: Lethal swine flu spreads in war-torn Yemen amid collapse of health system." by Mohamed al-Azaki SANAA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Aminah Mohsen, 70, is another patient arriving at a public hospital in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa. She is suffering from swine flu, also known as H1N1 influenza, which breaks down the immune system, stops breathing and heart beat, and could kill the patient in fewer than 24 hours if not treated early. The 70-year-old woman started to have fever, a sore throat and bad cough three days ago. She was examined in several clinics and then moved the public hospital, where she was diagnosed with H1N1 epidemic. "We, in the Republican Teaching Hospital Authority, receives at least three confirmed H1N1 cases every day," said Fouad al-Radhi, deputy head of the hospital. "The cases are increasing and we fear the catastrophe is looming while we lack medicines and proper equipment," Radhi warned. Plagued by cholera, malnutrition, diphtheria and now swine flu, the Arab country is unable to cope with the most deadly epidemics as its four years of civil war has almost destroyed its healthcare system. Hasan al-Noni, a driver and resident of Wisab district of Dhamar Province, 70 km south of Sanaa, said the H1N1 flu has broken out in his district. "I transported 10 cases infected with swine flu from the district to the hospital in Sanaa over the past three days to receive treatment, three still receiving treatment while the rest had died, mostly women and children," he told Xinhua at the hospital. The World Health Organization also attributes the rapid spread of epidemics in Yemen to the collapse of the health system, saying "only 50 percent of all health facilities are partially or fully functioning." Yousif al-Hadri, spokesman of Houthi-controlled Health Ministry, said the ministry has recorded 747 confirmed H1N1 cases, including 154 deaths since early 2018. "The health system has collapsed as the H1N1 epidemic broke out in the beginning of last year and continued to spread across 2019," al-Hadri told Xinhua in an interview. He urged international humanitarian agencies to provide aid and medical equipment that would help contain the outbreak. According to the UN aid agencies, the cholera has infected 1.2 million Yemenis, 30 percent of whom are children, and killed 2,515, while diphtheria infections have increased to 2,572 cases, including 1,491 children. The aid agencies said more than 12 million Yemenis are suffering from malnutrition and on the brink of famine. The United Nations has been pushing for the implementation of a peace deal reached in Stockholm between the Yemeni rival parties in December last year, which included the re-opening of Sanaa airport for commercial and civil flights. The war pits the Yemeni internationally recognized government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, against the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels who forced the government and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile after they seized control over much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa. The war has killed over 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million others, triggering what the UN calls the world's biggest humanitarian, health and economic crisis. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 05:54:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RAMALLAH, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority condemned on Sunday the Israeli security cabinet's approval of cutting over 138 million U.S. dollars from its tax revenues that PA pays to Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons. "The deduction from the Palestinian clearing funds is totally rejected and it is considered a piracy of the money of the Palestinian people," said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, PA presidential spokesman, in an official press statement. "President Mahmoud Abbas always stresses that we will not accept any harm to the livelihood of our heroes, the prisoners and the families of martyrs and wounded," Abu Rudeineh added. "This is an arbitrary unilateral decision that blows up the signed agreements," he stressed. Under interim peace deals signed in Paris in 1996, Israel collects taxes on behalf of the PA, which puts the current monthly sum at 222 million dollars. Since the negotiations stalled in 2014, Israel has at times withheld money as a measure of protest or pressure. Meanwhile, Qadri Abu Bakker, chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs in Palestine Liberation Organization, said the Israeli decision was approved "with the comprehensive support of the U.S. government." "Israel is working on undermining the issue of the Palestinian prisoners and the legitimacy of their national struggle and to show the prisoners as terrorists," Abu Bakkar said. "The PA will continue to pay the prisoners," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 05:34:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SANAA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels on Sunday agreed to withdraw their fighters from the lifeline port city of Hodeidah under the Stockholm peace deal reached in December last year. In a statement released by the rebel group, the Houthis said they will withdraw from the port city as the first step and facilitate access to the grain aid stored in the Red Sea Mills. The move is based on a plan presented by Martin Griffiths, visiting UN Special Envoy to Yemen and Michael Anker Lollesgaard, head of the UN cease-fire monitor team in Hodeidah, they added. Meanwhile, the Yemeni government also agreed to facilitate access to the mills, where 51,000 tons of wheat is stored by the World Food Programme to feed the more than 3 million needy people, according to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television. Griffiths has been shuttling between the Houthi rebels in Sanaa and the Yemeni exiled government in the Saudi capital Riyadh to cement the deal and avert battles in Hodeidah, the entry point of Yemen's most commercial imports and humanitarian aid. It was Griffiths' fifth visit to Sanaa in nearly two months to break a stalemate in the key Yemeni city. The four-year civil war in Yemen has pushed over 12 million people to the verge of famine and created what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The warring parties reached the peace deal in Stockholm in December 2018. They have largely held the cease-fire deal in Hodeidah but failed to withdraw their forces as they differed over which side should control the city after their mutual military withdrawal. The rebels currently controls Hodeidah while the government troops have been massing on the southern and eastern outskirts of the port city. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 04:44:38|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close GAZA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least nine Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were injured on Sunday evening during clashes in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli and Palestinian sources said. Ashraf al-Qedra, health ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that one of the nine Palestinians injured by Israeli soldiers' gunfire was in serious condition. Earlier in the day, security officials in Gaza said Israeli army artillery fired several shells at a military lookout post belonging to Hamas' armed wing al-Qassam Brigades in northern Gaza close to the border with Israel. No injuries were reported, according to the security officials. Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman also said in a statement that Palestinians carried out violent actions in the northern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, adding that they burned tires and threw hand grenades at the army forces stationed on the border. The Israeli army spokesman said one Israeli soldier was injured and sent to hospital for medical treatment. The border between the Gaza Strip and Israel has been witnessing tension since the Palestinian anti-Israel "Great March of Return" started on March 30, 2018. More than 250 Palestinians have since been killed by Israeli fire and 26,000 others injured, according Gaza health officials. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 03:49:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAIRO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Arab Parliament said on Sunday that it would present its demands to the Arab and EU leaders during their coming summit, which will be held in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Feb. 24-25. The demands, reflecting the aspirations of the Arab people, were agreed on during the Arab Parliament session, held in Cairo on Feb. 12, the parliament's speaker Mishaal al Salami said in a statement. The Arab demands would focus on the Palestinian cause, fighting terrorism and extremism, combating money laundering and tackling proliferation, Salami added. Leaders from both sides will convene to discuss ways of strengthening Arab-European ties. They will also address a wide range of issues and common challenges, such as multilateralism, trade and investment, migration, security, and the regional situation. The summit will be co-chaired by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and European Council President Donald Tusk. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 03:19:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TIRANA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Albanian police arrested 15 persons and is looking for 7 others accused of using violence during the protest on Saturday, police said in a statement on Sunday. According to the statement, Albanian police have arrested 15 citizens for the criminal offenses of "Opposing of the public order police officer", "Hitting someone while on duty", "Property destruction" and "Disturbing of public order". The police said that 5 citizens were prosecuted in a free state, and other 7 are declared wanted. In a reaction to Saturday's protest, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed his dismay at the echo of violent opposition protest in foreign media. "What dismay at the echo of yesterday's ugliness in international media. The blind policy of an opposition without vision, program and leadership did nothing to the government, but hit Albania in the eyes of the world and fed all those needing pretexts to drag accession negotiations with European Union. It's a shame," Rama said. Thousands of Albanian protesters under the direction of the Albanian opposition parties clashed with Albanian police and attacked the office of Rama. The opposition protests against the government, asking for Rama to resign and for early elections. The protesters broke through the police cordon, attacked the front door of the prime minister's office, throwing Molotov cocktail and bottles filled with gasoline. Meanwhile, at the end of the protest, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party Lulzim Basha invited protesters to join another protest on Feb. 21. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 03:04:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed government on Sunday called for security and military coordination against terrorism and crime in the country, as the eastern-based army continues its anti-terror campaign in the south. In a statement issued on the eighth anniversary of the uprising that toppled the regime of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, the government stressed the importance of "constitutional and legal cooperation to build a democratic civil state." "We believe that all parties have learned the lesson and become aware of the severe consequences of continued division. It is time to resort to reason now that the road toward stability is clear, and everyone has realized that there is no military solution to the crisis," the statement said. Libya has been suffering political division and escalating violence since the fall of Gaddafi's regime in 2011. The country is struggling to make a democratic transition, despite signing a UN-sponsored political agreement late in 2015 and appointment of a unity government. "The Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord rejects the use of war against terrorism to achieve political gains," the statement said, stressing the need to end the political crisis in the country by "holding constitution-based presidential and legislative elections." The army, led by Khalifa Haftar, has been carrying out a military campaign against terrorism and crime in the south since mid-January. The army is allied with the eastern-based government, as the country is politically divided between two governments in the east and the west, both competing for legitimacy. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 02:59:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SKOPJE, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Prime ministers of North Macedonia and Greece, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras, received late Saturday the Ewald von Kleist Award in recognition of their efforts to end the name dispute between the two countries, North Macedonian prime minister's office said in a statement on Sunday. The award ceremony was held at the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Head of the German Bavarian State Chancellery, Florian Herrmann, hosted the awarding ceremony. "I have three words to describe the success of our friendship: Hope, Dialogue and Unity," Zaev said in his speech at the ceremony, extending gratitude to citizens of his country, UN mediator Matthew Nimetz, European Union Commissioner Johannes Hahn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well the foreign ministers of both countries, according to the statement. In a statement on Facebook, Zaev called the award a great honor for the citizens of North Macedonia and Greece. The Munich Security Conference inaugurated the Ewald von Kleist Award in 2009, aiming to honor leading figures in security policy that have made an outstanding contribution to international peace and conflict management. In January, the parliaments of the two Balkan states ratified the agreement reached by the two prime ministers last summer to end the name dispute which started in 1991, when FYROM declared independence from Yugoslavia choosing the name Macedonia, the same name as a province in northern Greece. Under the agreement, FYROM is renamed the Republic of North Macedonia. Photo taken on Sept. 10, 2018 shows China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu) WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- American and Chinese scientists have called for international collaboration in science research at the ongoing annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to build more trust between two countries. It came after a Chinese elementary particle and accelerator physicist making a roadshow for China's megascience projects in high energy physics at a seminar. Wang Yifang, director of the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reviewed how China and the United States worked together to complete a neutrino experiment at China's Daya Bay Reactor and envisioned to have more such cooperation in a cosmic ray observatory project called LHAASO and a more ambitious circular collider in the pipeline. "Actually, in past 30 years, no large-scale high-energy physics project was done by one country," Wang told Xinhua. "And now it is the time for newly developed emerging countries to contribute more to science." Wang was echoed by Caroline Wagner, a science policy expert at Ohio State University. Wagner told Xinhua that the "openness" was critical for basic science research and the key to it was "to share," at all levels. International collaboration is a major topic on this year's AAAS meeting with a theme of "Science Transcending Boundaries." It came against looming challenges for international scientific partnership. Peter Michelson, a Stanford physicist, attributed them to an era of renewed nationalism and anti-globalization and of evidence-based research losing ground. "The best collaborators may be in other countries, and former graduate students and postdocs are potential collaborators," said Michelson. However, a memo released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last November restricted DOE-funded researchers working in "emerging research areas and technologies" from collaborating with colleagues from unspecified "sensitive" countries, which may block many foreign research cooperation and cast shadows on others. Ali Khounsary, a research professor of physics at Illinois Institute of Technology, lodged his objection at a seminar, saying choosing collaborators by their citizenship "unbelievable." "Cooperation in basic science should be immunized from politics and developed in a global way since we have common interest, common benefits and risks, common tools and methods and common issues," said Wang. Michelson told Xinhua that strong international partnership would become more important for future scientific progress as science facilities come with increasing size, complexity and cost. Michelson took delight in talking about a collaboration between China and the United States to have discovered the millisecond pulsar for the first time. In April last year, China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) discovered a radio millisecond pulsar coincident with the unassociated gamma-ray source in the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) point-source list. More than one-third of investment and researchers of Daya Bay Reactor neutrino experiment came from the United States, according to Wang. Scientists at the meeting did not consider international collaboration a conflicting thing against international competition. Jonathan Adams, an analyst at Philadelphia-based Clarivate Analytics, told Xinhua that the top institutions, which are the major players in science research, "need to recruit talent globally" to gain their leadership. Wang said that the competition between different groups and projects were incentives for science progress, but within a group or a project, researchers with diversified background could produce better results, or in Michelson's word "collaborate to compete." The U.S. institutional authors collaborate most frequently with authors from China, currently the largest producer of publications. China accounted for 22.9 percent of U.S. internationally coauthored publications in 2016, according to the latest science and engineering indicator released by the U.S. National Science Board. Some Americans are skeptical about U.S.-China cooperation, partly due to lack of trust, said Wagner, but "we should collaborate to build trust," "rather than stop it until we have trust." AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and its annual meetings promote communication among policymakers, researchers and the public. Russian S-400 missile air defence systems on display during a parade at Red Square in Moscow, May 9, 2018. (REUTERS) MOSCOW, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Saudi Arabia are negotiating a contract to supply the S-400 air defense missile systems to the kingdom, local media reported Sunday. The two countries are holding additional consultations, Alexander Mikheev, CEO of Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport, was quoted by TASS news agency as saying. The S-400 system, designed and manufactured by Russia's Almaz-Antey arms manufacturer, is considered the most advanced of its kind in Russia, capable of destroying targets at a distance of up to 400 km and a height of up to 30 km. According to Sputnik news agency, Russia has started supplying AK103 assault rifles to Saudi Arabia under a contract signed in 2017, Mikheev said at the IDEX 2019 international defense exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The two countries will soon agree on a project to jointly produce AK103 assault rifles in Saudi Arabia, he added. Prime Minister Oli inaugurates Kantipur Conclave With the objective of holding discussions on the current economic condition of Nepal and the potential opportunities, the first Kantipur Conclave organised by Kantipur Media Group has kicked off in Kathmandu. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the two-day event at Hyatt Regency on Sunday. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 01:49:10|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close Artists from China's Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theater perform at a Spring Festival gala in Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 16, 2019. Nearly 2,000 people attended the gala Saturday. (Xinhua) DUBLIN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Spring Festival Gala Ireland, an annual event to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, was held here on Saturday night, attracting nearly 2,000 local audience. Sean O'Fearghail, Speaker of the Dail or the lower house of the Irish parliament, sent a message to the gala in which he wished the success of the event and everyone in attendance an enjoyable night. Chinese ambassador to Ireland Yue Xiaoyong, officials from the local political and business circles and some of the diplomats based in Dublin also attended the gala which was held in the state-of-the art Auditorium of Convention Center Dublin. Artists from China's Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre entertained the local audience with dances, songs, traditional Chinese music, martial arts and stunt performances. "I thought the performance was amazing. I love it. It was such a mixture of dances, songs, colors and costumes. I also love the stunt performance in which people walk across a bridge of sharp knives. It was so exciting," said Aoife Foley, a female language teacher from Cork, the second largest city in Ireland. Chan Mullen, a lady of Chinese origin who has lived in Ireland for almost 50 years, told Xinhua that the performance, especially some of the old songs reminded her of the past years she spent in China. "It made me quite homesick and emotional," she said. Jointly organized by the Chinese embassy in Ireland and UCD (University College Dublin) Confucius Institute for Ireland, the event is part of the 17-day-long Dublin Chinese New Year Festival which will draw to a conclusion on Sunday night with a concert at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. During the two-week-long festival, several tens of thousands of local residents and tourists have participated in over 80 celebration programs, said organizers. Irish President Michael D. Higgins also attended a concert for the celebration of the Chinese New Year during the festival. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 01:24:04|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Photo released by Pakistani Press Information Department (PID) shows Pakistani President Arif Alvi(R) meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, Feb. 18, 2019. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud arrived in Pakistan on Sunday on a two-day official visit on bilateral and regional issues, with focuses on investment and economic cooperation. (Xinhua/PID) ISLAMABAD, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud arrived in Pakistan on Sunday on a two-day official visit on bilateral and regional issues, with focuses on investment and economic cooperation. The crown prince is accompanied by a delegation including ministers and businessmen, the Foreign Ministry said. Officials here said that the two countries are expected to sign a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding in diverse sectors, including construction of oil refinery and petrochemical complex. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said the two sides will also launch the Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council (SCC) to coordinate the agreed objectives. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the media that the first meeting of the SCC will be held late on Sunday that will be the important engagement of the crown prince. File Photo: A craftswoman adorns a pig-shaped festive lantern at the Baotu Spring Park in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 9, 2019. (Xinhua/Lyu Chuanquan) LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese New Year has gone global in the last couple of years with a marked uptick in engagement worldwide. Heavily impacted by the growing global awareness of Chinese New Year is the retail sector -- especially high-end merchandise and luxury brands. Brand leaders and major retail chains are finding Chinese New Year has a profound effect not just on the global supply chain for their goods sourced from China, but on their retail sales at home as well. In fact, Chinese consumers accounted for 32 percent of all luxury brand purchases worldwide in the year 2017, according to Boston-based consultancy Bain & Co. A November study by the company also said Chinese consumers will be responsible for nearly half of global high-end luxury sales by 2025. Buying new things to wear and to give as gifts is an important way for Chinese consumers to celebrate the New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year. Total earnings of retail and catering enterprises in China reached around 900 billion yuan (about 133 billion U.S. dollars) during the 2018 Chinese New Year holiday period, according to data released by China's Ministry of Commerce. So savvy global brands and top retail chains are all "seeing red" -- the official Chinese New Year color -- and getting into the action to promote their goods and services by targeting Chinese consumers with new product lines, specialty items and marketing campaigns inspired by the Lunar New Year. The top retailers and global brand leaders have found appealing ways to build hype and consumer anticipation leading up to and beyond the New Year as they seek to expand and extend consumer engagement. In particular, younger Chinese consumers tend to spend their holiday money, rather than save it, and are looking for immediate gratification via shopping, encouraging retailers to target this lucrative demographic. For instance, seeking greater relevance with young Chinese consumers, Lululemon, the Canadian athleisure retailer, created a Chinese New Year collection last year. It paired ten healthier lifestyle practices with ten Chinese cultural elements and lunar festival traditions in a marketing campaign entitled "Practice Takes Practice." Weaving elements of the traditional Chinese zodiac into product designs and marketing campaigns can lead to successful cross-cultural sales opportunities and helps brands appeal to Chinese consumers. Also, the animal traits of the zodiac character each year give a hint about how Chinese consumers see the year to come, so they can be artfully taken into account when designing these new products. Online retailer Amazon has a vast array of Chinese New Year theme-related merchandise to entice Year of the Pig shoppers, including decorations, clothing, statues, jewelry, and more, all just one click away. Many top retail chains have also gotten into the Chinese New Year fever, staging Chinese New Year-themed marketing campaigns and merchandise, including London's Harrods and Selfridges, New York's Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macys, Los Angeles area's Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, South Coast Plaza and Santa Anita Mall, and even the city of Beverly Hills and many of its high-end boutiques and hotels. In particular, London-based retailer, Selfridges, staged an entire in-store Chinese New Year campaign, offering traditional Chinese calligraphy lessons, Asian-themed beauty treatments, and other Sino-centric classes. This year at Two Rodeo Drive, a high-end street nestled at the heart of Beverly Hills' world-renowned shopping district, over two dozen leading luxury and fashion boutiques offered special Chinese New Year-themed campaigns and products, including Versace, Audemars Piguet, Tiffany & Co., Jimmy Choo, Stefano Ricci, Carolina Herrera, and more. The global trend to embrace Chinese New Year has been growing for the last several years. This year, for the Year of the Pig, Longchamp released a charming purse with a pigtail design motif in collaboration with Mr. Bags, a leading Shanghai-based Chinese fashion blogger. Dior released an elegant bag which featured a sophisticated red and white-patterned interpretation of traditional Chinese paper cuts. One of the more extensive commitments to Chinese New Year and the booming Chinese market came with Nike. It launched its Kyrie 4 "Chinese New Year" sneaker in 2018, and this year really rolled out the red carpet with an entire limited-edition Chinese New Year collection whose colors and materials were directly inspired by the Chinese zodiac animals and traditional Chinese patchwork. South Coast Plaza, the largest shopping mall on the West Coast of the United States where many top-brand luxuries are sold, welcomed the Lunar New Year with a spectacular celebration. A custom-designed grand Lunar New Year centerpiece was unveiled with eight flying pig figures representing auspicious symbols soaring over a giant figure of a cheerful pig inside an ornate pagoda. "South Coast Plaza continues to elevate the Lunar New Year retail celebration," spokeswoman for South Coast Plaza Debra Gunn Downing told Xinhua at the event. "Visitors have made it an annual tradition to come to us for exclusive and culturally relevant experiences." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-18 00:23:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RAMALLAH/GAZA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians have condemned on Sunday some Arab countries' warming ties with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with leaders and foreign ministers of several Arab countries, including Oman, on the sidelines of a U.S.-sponsored conference on Middle East affairs held last week in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Earlier on Sunday, Israel Radio quoted Netanyahu as saying that "making peace with the Palestinians would largely contribute to improvement of Israel's ties with the Arab world." But as peace with the Palestinians hasn't been achieved yet, Israel cannot normalize ties with the Arab world, said Netanyahu. Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Voice of Palestine Radio in response to Netanyahu's remarks that the Arab countries' signal of normalization with Israel is "a stab in the back of the Palestinian people." "(Their) normalization of ties with Israel will not affect the Palestinians who are determined to carry on with their struggle until they gain their legitimate rights ... mainly the establishment of a Palestinian state on 1967 territories with East Jerusalem as its capital," said Erekat. The veteran Palestinian negotiator stressed that those who seek for peace in the Middle East must count on international resolutions, the international law and the Arab Peace Initiative. In 2002, the Arab League launched the peace initiative with Israel, which was based on Saudi Arabia's proposal on resolving the Palestinian cause and the conflict with Israel. According to the initiative, Arab and Islamic normalization with Israel should happen after Israel ends its occupation of the Palestinian territories which has been going on since 1967 and after the establishment of the independent Palestinian state. Israel rejected the Arab peace initiative and since 2002, Israel has worked on establishing direct ties with Arab countries without linking the normalization of ties with resolving the Palestinian question. Meanwhile, several Palestinian factions and political groups in the West Bank said in a joint statement that they reject all types and kinds of Arab normalization with Israel, whether it is academic, cultural or economic. Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, condemned the Arab participation in Warsaw Conference together with Israel. Hamas urged all to consider Arab normalization with Israel as a "big crime," while Israel is committing "the most awful kinds of crimes" against the Palestinians and violate their human rights and their holy places. A Palestinian campaign has also been organized in several Arab countries and on the Palestinian territories to reject all kinds of normalization with Israel. The Highest Commission of the Great March of Return has organized the campaign, mainly on the social media. Hundreds of young men, activists and leaders of various Palestinian factions joined the campaign, which is called "No for normalization. Normalization is a betrayal." Mohamed Nashwan, a Palestinian social media activist from Gaza, said on his Twitter account that "those who were unable to support the Palestinians' rights on their land must stop supporting the occupation (Israel) through normalization with it." Nisrin al-Sadi, another female social media activist from the West Bank, also tweeted "every day, the occupation (Israel) commits all kinds of crimes against the Palestinian people and in return Arab leaders are hurrying up to normalize ties with it." Abdul Nasser al-Najjar, a Ramallah-based political analyst, told Xinhua that Israel and the United States will never succeed in imposing their solutions on the Palestinians, who will confront and challenge all these plans. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 23:58:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close HOUSTON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Benchmark oil prices posted weekly gains during the week ending Feb. 15, with the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery up by 5.4 percent and Brent crude for April delivery up by 6.7 percent. In the previous week ending Feb. 8, oil prices fell. WTI and Brent crude decreased by 4.6 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. At the end of that week, WTI settled at 52.72 U.S. dollars a barrel, while Brent crude closed at 62.1 dollars a barrel. The U.S. oil rig count rose by three this week, bringing the total count to 857. The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by two to 1,051, or 76 more than the same time last year. On Monday, oil prices fell as rising U.S. rig count and energy demand concerns weighed on the market. WTI decreased 0.31 dollar to settle at 52.41 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude dropped 0.59 dollar to close at 61.51 dollars a barrel. Traders fretted over signs of rising U.S. oil production and concerned about a slowdown in energy demand triggered by a weakening global economy, experts noted. In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook released on Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude oil production averaged 12.0 million barrels per day in January, up 90,000 barrels per day from December 2018. It also forecast that U.S. crude oil production is going to average 12.4 million barrels per day in 2019 and 13.2 million barrels per day in 2020, with most of the growth coming from the Permian region of the state of Texas and New Mexico. According to EIA, global liquid fuels inventories grew by an estimated 0.5 million barrels per day in 2018, and it is expected to grow by 0.4 million barrels per day in 2019 and by 0.6 million barrels per day in 2020. Meanwhile, the European Commission cut its forecast for euro zone economic growth in 2019 and 2020 in its latest report, reigniting fears of global economic slowdown. Furthermore, a stronger U.S. dollar made commodities priced in the currency, such as crude oil, less attractive to investors. On Tuesday, oil prices climbed as latest data showed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) significantly curbed the crude oil production in January, indicating a tightening global supply. WTI increased 0.69 dollar to settle at 53.10 dollars a barrel, and Brent crude climbed 0.91 dollar to close at 62.42 dollars a barrel. OPEC reported on Tuesday that crude oil production decreased by 797,000 barrels per day in January to average 30.81 million barrels per day. Preliminary data indicated that global oil supply decreased in January by 1.03 million barrels per day, month-on-month, to average 99.32 million barrels per day. The report came after a meeting in December that OPEC and some other major oil producers, including Russia, pledged to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day, effective from January 2019. On Wednesday, oil prices gained as reports showed further reduction in global output, bolstering the market. WTI increased 0.80 dollar to settle at 53.90 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude rose 1.19 dollars to close at 63.61 dollars a barrel. Global supply fell 1.4 million barrels per day to 99.7 million barrels per day in January, said the monthly report on Wednesday by the International Energy Agency. On Thursday, oil prices extended gains as trade optimism and reports of further reduction in global energy supply bolstered the market. WTI increased 0.51 dollar to settle at 54.41 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude climbed 0.96 dollar to close at 64.57 dollars a barrel. On Friday, oil prices continued to advance as the market was bolstered by signs of progress on U.S.-China trade talks and a tightening energy supply. WTI increased 1.18 dollars to settle at 55.59 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude rose 1.68 dollars to close at 66.25 dollars a barrel. China and the United States held the sixth round of high-level economic and trade consultations in Beijing from Thursday to Friday. The two sides earnestly implemented the consensus reached by the two heads of state during their Argentina meeting late last year, and had in-depth communication on topics of mutual concern including technological transfer, intellectual property rights protection, non-tariff barriers, the service industry, agriculture, trade balance and implementation mechanism; as well as on issues of China's concern. Both sides reached consensus in principle on major issues and had specific discussions about a memorandum of understanding on bilateral economic and trade issues. The two sides said they would step up their work within the time limit for consultations set by both heads of state, and strive for consensus. They agreed that consultations will be continued in Washington in the upcoming week. The market will focus on the development of the talks. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 23:38:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TOKYO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- A poll conducted by Kyodo News revealed on Sunday that more than 67 percent of Okinawa residents plan to vote against the Japanese central government's plan to transfer a key U.S. air base within the southern island prefecture in a local referendum scheduled for Feb. 24. According to the opinion poll conducted over the weekend with 1,047 eligible voters in the prefecture, 67.7 percent said they will vote "no" on the plan while only 15.8 percent said they are in favor of it. Among the respondents against the base relocation within Okinawa, nearly 40 percent said they do not want a new U.S. military facility on the island. Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki hopes the result of the referendum will show the local opposition to the transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, although the vote is not legally binding, according to local media reports. In total, about 1.16 million Okinawa residents with Japanese citizenship aged 18 or above will be eligible to vote. In terms of their opinion about building a replacement facility in the coastal area of Henoko, voters will be given three simple options on the ballot -- "yes," "no" or "neither side." About 13.1 percent responded that they are going to choose "neither." Among the surveyed, 86.3 percent said the Japanese central government should respect the outcome of the referendum. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 23:13:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli army officer was charged with failing to prevent his soldiers from beating two Palestinian detainees, Israel's army said on Sunday. The commanding officer, whose identity was not disclosed, was indicted for "failing to prevent a crime, negligently causing injury and conducting unbecomingly as an officer," Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement. The officer was suspended until further notice, the army said. According to the indictment, the lieutenant "noticed his soldiers that they were acting very violently towards the Palestinian detainees who were handcuffed and blindfolded, but did not prevent them from continuing to beat the detainees." On Jan. 31, five soldiers were charged with striking two Palestinians with slaps, punches, and bludgeons while they were handcuffed and blindfolded, causing them severe injuries. Two of the soldiers were also charged with obstructing justice after they allegedly coordinated their versions of the story to avoid arrest. Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups often report abuses of Palestinians' rights during arrests but these allegations are usually not followed with indictments. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 23:03:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said on Sunday they have started installing CCTV cameras around the 25-kilometre Mirerani wall north of the country to control theft of tanzanite minerals. Dotto Biteko, the east African nation's Minister for Minerals, said the 24-hour surveillance CCTV cameras were the second phase of reinforcing security to ensure that the unique gemstone benefited the country. Biteko was speaking at the inauguration of the Tanzanite Brokers Trading Center, a facility which now operates at the Mirerani mines entry gates in Manyara region. "It is not enough to just fence the mines with a wall, but we also have to ensure that all areas within and around the mine are monitored around the clock to ensure that safety is guaranteed both to traders, miners and the revenue authorities," said Biteko. The surveillance cameras, scanners as well as other safety electronic devices were being installed by a company called Starfix Enterprises which has been commissioned by the government, said the minister. Last year, a team of officials from the Mining Commission of Tanzania toured the mining quarries in the Mirerani Hills of Simanjiro and discovered a series of safety loopholes. The team pointed out that there were some mineral brokers who still encroached into the quarries, buying gemstones from the mining entities then walked out of the gates with the gems clandestinely. In September 2017, Tanzanian President John Magufuli directed the country's army to build a wall around tanzanite mine site in northern part of the nation to control theft and smuggling of the precious gemstones. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 22:53:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have launched investigations into more than 380 peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in a bid to control financial risks, the Ministry of Public Security said Sunday. According to preliminary statistics, 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) worth of assets of the P2P lending platforms involved, including cash, bank deposits and real estate, have been sealed up, seized or frozen by police across the country. Investigation found that more than 100 actual controllers or senior executives of the online lending platforms had been missing before the P2P companies were investigated, some of whom were confirmed to have fled abroad. Police have solved a group of major P2P cases involving a large number of retail investors and brought back 62 suspects from 16 countries and regions including Thailand and Cambodia, the ministry said. The ministry vowed to continue crackdown on illegal fundraising and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the people. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 22:48:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KUWAIT CITY, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwaiti Information Ministry launched on Sunday a wide-scale media campaign to promote Kuwait's 2035 development vision, the Kuwait News Agency said. Mohammad Al-Awash, the ministry's acting undersecretary, said that the effort primarily intended to highlight the core aspects of Kuwait's national development drive, including diversified economy, developed infrastructure, sustainable living environment and high-quality medical care. Co-organized by the Information Ministry and the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, the six-week campaign features media activities, development programs and movies, Al-Awash said. In February 2010, with an aim to change the country's traditional oil-reliant economic structure, the Kuwaiti government unveiled "Kuwait 2035," a national development strategy to turn the country into a trade and financial hub. New law envisions teaching council to test teachers qualification and issue licence The government is working to set up an entity that will test the qualification of teachers before issuing licences for them to take up a teaching profession. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 22:23:37|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BANGKOK, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- A mahout was trampled to death by an elephant he raised in central Thailand's Sukhothai Province, reports said on Sunday. The man, 38, was killed on Saturday near an elephant sanctuary he owned, according to police. He was found lying his face down with bruises along his body in a corn field. His 10-year-old pachyderm was also found not far from the body, reports said. The man has raised the bull elephant with one left tusk since it was young, and he founded the sanctuary in 2007, his wife said. He took the elephant to graze in the field without carrying a hook. The irritable pachyderm attacked him. It was the third elephant attack reported in the southeastern Asian country within just a week. A woman was violently killed by wild elephants near a national park in central Thailand's Hua Hin on Friday. A Buddhist monk was killed by wild elephants near a Wildlife Sanctuary in Chachoengsao Province in central Thailand. It is estimated that about 3,500 domesticated elephants live in Thailand and roughly 3,340 wild elephants live in 69 wildlife sanctuaries and national parks across the country. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 22:13:34|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Persistent loading shedding has hard hit the South African economy, costing billions of rand every day, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday. "Load shedding has significant consequences for our economy, and the productivity of small businesses in particular, which have suffered the biggest blows due to the blackouts," the DA said amid a worsening power crisis. For the past few days, state-run electricity utility Eskom, which provides more than 95 percent of the electricity consumed in South Africa, has implemented the most severe load shedding for years, plunging large parts of the country into darkness and disrupting economic activities. South Africa loses at least 2 billions of rand (about 143 million U.S. dollars) a day due to power failures, according to the DA, citing estimates from economists. "It is safe to say that load shedding leads to job shedding," DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen said. The DA has used load shedding to attack the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in its election manifesto in the run-up to the general elections, scheduled for May 8. "The ANC has killed the lights affecting 57 million South Africans. Time for us to take their power. Vote DA," the party said in its election billboard. The fact that Eskom continues to leave our citizens in the dark is further proof that the failing ANC is completely incapable of fixing the challenges at the ailing utility, the DA claimed. In his reply to a debate on his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted that the government has not done enough to restructure poorly managed Eskom. He has proposed to split the utility into three entities for generation, transmission and distribution respectively. His proposal has won the backing of the cabinet although trade unions are worried about the possibility of job cuts as result of the split. Ramaphosa's proposal is seen by the DA as an attempt for Eskom to be unbundled into a holding company, with three separate business entities to be owned entirely by the holding company. The DA argues that Eskom will remain a monopoly even after the utility is broken up in separate units. "This plan means that each of the three entities will have the same holding board. Thus, the intention to stimulate competition in the generation sector of Eskom will be limited by the fact that the entities are not wholly independent or competitive. They will continue to be state owned," Steenhuisen said. The DA wants to privatize Eskom in an effort to break Eskom's monopoly, allowing independent power producers to compete on an equal footing in the generation sector. But Ramaphosa has rejected the proposal to privatize Eskom. There are sound, valid and compelling reasons to separate Eskom into different entities, but it is not a path to privatization, the president said. High levels of debt and default risk have left Eskom in dire straits as the power utility battles to meet demand. The utility is facing debts amounting to 420 billion rand (about 30 billion U.S. dollars). The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) said earlier this week that Eskom would cease to exist at the current trajectory by April this year. In an attempt to end outages and help Eskom recover, the government reportedly has deployed police and intelligence officers at Eskom's power stations for fear of sabotage. Eskom's generating facilities have been sabotaged before by striking workers. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 21:48:28|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close KABUL, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 27 people including two civilians were confirmed dead in the conflict-battered Afghanistan in a single day on Sunday as fighting between government forces and the Taliban outfit has gotten momentum, officials said. In latest crackdown on militants, the government forces stormed Taliban positions in Dasht-e-Qala district of the northern Takhar province Sunday morning and so far seven armed insurgents have been killed and five others injured, an army spokesman in the province, Abdul Khalil Khalili said. The official also asserted that the crackdown would continue to eliminate the insurgents in the area. Meanwhile, the Taliban fighters in overnight attacks on police checkpoints in Harab-e-Mazari village of Chimtal district in the northern Balkh province had killed at least eight police and injured three others, a local official confirmed with anonymity. However, an army spokesman, Abdul Hadi Jamal, has confirmed the fighting and, without providing details on the security forces casualties, claimed that 10 Taliban militants were killed in the firefight. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in contact with media outlets, has confirmed fighting in Chimtal district, claiming that the militants besides destroying a checkpoint and inflicting casualties on police, also captured two police vehicles. Similarly, Taliban firing on a police van in Baghlan-e-Markazi district on Sunday left one civilian dead and five others injured, local sources said. Taliban militants, according to locals, also gunned down a civilian in Baharak district of the northern Badakhshan province on the same day. Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan's northern region as the Taliban insurgents have focused their guns from their traditional strongholds in the south and east to the once peaceful provinces in the north, where the armed outfit has been recruiting fighters from among the youth and jobless people. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 21:13:21|Editor: ZX Video Player Close LUSAKA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- A Zambian firm has started importing smart electric vehicles from China, an official said on Sunday. Amilak Investments, which launched the smart electric vehicles last December, is upbeat about the development and envisages that this will turn around the country's transport sector. The cars are designed in Germany but manufactured in China. "We launched these smart electric cars on December 14 and had several stakeholders who came to witness this milestone," Andrew Kazilimani, the firm's director of operations said. He said the first phase of the project involves importing the cars directly from China while plans were underway to establish a manufacturing factory in one of the multifacility economic zones in the country. The initiative, he said, will make Zambia a hub in the supply of electric cars in the southern African region. According to him, there were many benefits of using electric cars such as no expenses on fuel and no periodic maintenance required. Ackim Nyirongo, the firm's director of sales and marketing, said about 10 electric cars have so far been ordered for stocking and will be arriving in the country next month. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 21:08:19|Editor: ZX Video Player Close HARBIN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Palace Museum, or Forbidden City, will extend its opening hours to the evening for the first time on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 in celebration for this year's Lantern Festival, its curator said Sunday. The museum will display some of the most well-known ancient Chinese paintings on its city walls during that time, said Shan Jixiang, the museum curator, at an event in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Tickets to the Feb. 19 tour have been booked up once released on Sunday afternoon. Tickets to the tour on the following day will be open for booking on Monday, according to the museum website. The Forbidden City has been decorated with large royal lanterns as a highlight of the museum's ongoing new year exhibition, aiming to give visitors a feel of what it was like to usher in the new year in the royal court some 200 years ago. The new year exhibition, the largest of its kind in the Palace Museum with 885 relics, will last until April 7. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 21:08:18|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday that the Syrian constitution is not for bargaining. Speaking during a meeting with local administration officials in Damascus, the president said there will be no dialogue between the national side, who protected the country, and others who were a puppet for the West. The remarks came as the formation of a constitutional committee to draft or review the current constitution is on the table. The constitutional committee is supposed to be formed by the Syrian government and oppositions, but the UN wanted a third category in the committee also, which has been protested by the government. Assad said the role of the UN is welcomed only when it based on respecting the sovereignty of the country. Meanwhile, Assad said all of Syria will be retaken by the Syrian government, noting the future of Syria will be solely determined by the Syrians. He also said to the groups that work for the U.S. that "the America will not protect you and you will be a tool in his hands for bargaining." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 21:08:17|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Some 47 Malaysians who had been stranded in Cambodia returned home on Sunday following an agreement between the two governments. After being stranded since late last year, they arrived in three batches at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), according to the state news agency Bernama. All of them were from the eastern Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. They claimed that they had gone to Cambodia after being offered lucrative salaries, instead they were confined to several houses by those who had lured them to the country after paying fees to secure jobs and for travel arrangements. However, they were reported to have been held by the Cambodian authorities for allegedly cheating, opening and conducting illegal online gambling activities. Their plight was brought to the attention of the Malaysian foreign ministry, which secured their release and facilitated their return in a series of negotiations. Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah had earlier thanked the Cambodian government for granting special approval to free the Malaysians. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 20:58:15|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's banking and insurance regulator has given the country's largest lender the go-ahead to set up a wealth management subsidiary. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has got the approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), the regulator announced Saturday. Four other big lenders Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Construction Bank of China and Bank of China have gotten the nod for the business in the past two months. China issued rules in early December 2018 for commercial banks' wealth management branches to strengthen their risk management and support the real economy. The CBIRC has received wealth management branch applications of several commercial banks and more banks will follow suite. Establishment of wealth management units will enrich the mix of institutional investors, bring more funds to the real economy and the finance market, and meet consumers' diversified needs, the CBIRC said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 20:58:15|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close People visit an international defense exhibition in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Feb. 17, 2019. The 14th International Defense Exhibition and Conference and the fifth Naval Defense and Maritime Security Exhibition opened on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. For the first time, the two exhibitions were held together with the aim of creating a comprehensively global event covering all defense and security issues. (Xinhua/Mohamad Badreddine) DUBAI, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The 14th International Defense Exhibition and Conference and the fifth Naval Defense and Maritime Security Exhibition opened on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of UAE, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE's Armed Forces, attended the opening. For the first time, the two exhibitions were held together with the aim of creating a comprehensively global event covering all defense and security issues. German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Yang) by Xinhua writers Zhu Sheng, Qiao Jihong MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- During the ongoing 55th Munich Security Conference, the transatlantic relations is one of this year's most discussed and central issues. The ties between the European Union (EU) and the United States has always been complicated and riddled with disagreements, said Julianne Smith, former deputy national security advisor to former U.S. vice president Joe Biden. UPHOLD FAIRNESS PRINCIPLES According to the result of a representative public opinion poll "Security Radar 2019 - Wake-Up Call for Europe" of the Vienna-based FES Regional Office for Cooperation and Peace in Europe, which is presented on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, half of the German respondents think the U.S. is a threat to security in Europe. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in her opening speech that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the EU should seek true partnership, which should not be built on dominance and should not create political or economic dependence. Meanwhile, she told the conference delegates that the principles of fairness should be upheld in the transatlantic friendship. "NATO is more than a military alliance, it is a political alliance," she said. Whether on trade, counter-terrorism cooperation or Iran, fostering EU-U.S. cooperation is a never-ending exercise in patience, diplomacy and bureaucratic acrobatics, Smith wrote in the The Security Times, a special edition of the German times for the 55th Munich security conference. "Unfortunately for the EU, the Trump administration's attitudes and policies towards the EU are but one of its many challenges at the moment," she noted. The conference, scheduled from Friday to Sunday, has attracted numerous heads of state and government and other prestigious figures in world politics and security. FOR OWN SECURITY Unlike his predecessors, Trump does not appear to see any value in America's relationship with the EU, Smith noted. Trump believes that the EU was "formed in order to take advantage" of the U.S. and that the EU is more adversary than ally. Last summer he labeled the EU as a "foe". "Nobody treats us much worse than the European Union," Trump said last November. At the annual conference, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas criticized in his speech Trump's go-it-alone approach as counter-productive, and called for a return to multilateral solutions. Maas said that Trump's steel tariffs cost jobs in the U.S., increased steel prices and are threatening jobs in Europe. Maas also criticized the U.S.'s unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, one of the signature achievements of EU-U.S. cooperation. He urged a return to cooperation, saying Germany has "no interest in a division of the West." In addition, Trump has long been ripping the NATO members that have not met the two-percent benchmark on military spending. NATO's European allies have spent more on defense for a second consecutive year in 2017, but the majority of them still failed to meet the target of spending two percent of their GDP on defense. Von der Leyen addressed in Munich that Germany remains firmly committed to the goal of increasing defence spending to 2 percent. However, British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said that European states "should not be spending 2 percent of GDP on defence for the United States. We should be spending 2 percent of GDP on defence for ourselves, for our own security." Nepal has all attributes required for development: PM Oli Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that Nepal has all the attributes required for development including resources and stable system. Addressing the first Kantipur Conclave organised by Kantipur Media Group in Kathmandu on Sunday, Oli reiterated the governments single agendadevelopment and only development. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 20:33:11|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The San Francisco Symphony on Saturday celebrated the Year of the Pig with a vibrant concert for an audience of nearly 2,800 American and overseas Chinese music fans. Held at the Louise Davies Symphony Hall in downtown, the concert started with a cheerful, jubilant opening vignette set to David Byrne's main title theme music from The Last Emperor as dozens of members of the San Francisco-based Dragon Horse Lion Dance Association danced with red lanterns in their hands along the aisles. The two-hour concert, preceded with three "happy lions" dancing outside the concert hall to create a festive atmosphere, featured strong, typical Chinese elements. The San Francisco Symphony presented the audience with a performance of Eastern repertoire including the Spring Festival Overture composed by famous Chinese composer Li Huanzhi, which was inspired from Chinese folk songs but incorporated with a distinctive Western flavor. Followed was the Butterfly Lovers Concerto, a violin masterpiece composed in the late 1950s by two well-known Chinese composers He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, which was based on a touching Chinese folk legend, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, in the Romeo and Luliet mold. Played by emerging violin star Angelo Xiang Yu, the violin piece produced the first climax of the concert and was greeted with thunderous applause. In the next half, the San Francisco Symphony performed a popular Chinese love song, Jasmine Flower. It was adapted by famous contemporary Chinese composer Tan Dun for use during the medal ceremony at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Canada's Red Chamber, a Chinese traditional instrumental ensemble, performed two contrasting Chinese folk songs, The Moon Over Spring River, a meditative nocturne, and Dance of the Yao People, which combined a graceful lyrical dance with energetic sound of music. Famous contemporary musician An-lun Huang, now living in Canada, gave a stunning performance of the Saibei Dance from Saibei Suite No. 2. Its fluttering opening flute solo was reminiscent of John Adam's Short Ride in a Fast Machine in 1986, which the composer described as "fanfare for orchestra." The joyfully exuberant piece brought down the house, with the audience enthusiastically giving a standing ovation to the artists on stage. Jennifer Wagner, a product marketing professional in a Silicon Valley hi-tech company, said she was excited to celebrate the Chinese lunar new year by attending such a concert. "My family's been celebrating Chinese new year," she said. "Sometimes we go to San Francisco Parade, but this time we're going to the symphony, and this show is amazing." "It's part of our normal traditions now," added Wagner, who had worked for several years in Shanghai in eastern China. She said her son is currently studying Chinese but is also a classical musical fan. "For us it has special meaning because it's combining two things we love, classical music and also the celebration of the Chinese lunar new year," she added. Michael Lehomann, an attorney working for a U.S. federal court here, said it was the first time to attend a concert themed with classical Chinese music. "I was very impressed and enjoyed it very much, particularly the butterfly concerto," he said. Although Lehomann could not quite understand the story, "the quality of the performance by the artists is excellent," he said. "It's very interesting to hear real Chinese music." Elizabeth Lee, a real estate manager in San Francisco, brought her 13-year-old daughter to the event. "My daughter has been listening to opera and other Western music, but today she has a great opportunity to get herself immersed in Chinese music," Lee said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 20:13:08|Editor: ZX Video Player Close ZHENGZHOU, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Henan Province has attracted a big number of migrant workers to return home with a government-supported investment fund. According to the provincial department of finance, so far, the fund has pumped 4.872 billion yuan (719.2 million U.S. dollars) into 18 investment projects, drawing more than 50,000 migrant workers home to start businesses or find jobs. The provincial government set up the fund for this purpose at the end of 2017. The government provided the seed fund of 5 billion yuan. The fund has focused its equity investment in labor-intensive industries, such as agriculture, textile and food processing. The fund will soon start its second round of fund-raising. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 20:08:07|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Security forces have arrested 10 persons on charge of involvement in militancy, smuggling arms and drug trafficking in the eastern Nangarhar province, provincial governor Shah Mahmoud Miakhil said Sunday. Talking to reporters here, Miakhil said the suspected militants and smugglers had been rounded up from across the relatively troubled province over the past one week and arms and ammunition have also been confiscated. The contraband confiscated from the arrested persons include 10 pistols, explosive devices, mortar mines and hashish. Investigation has been initiated to identify and track down the network involved in smuggling arms and ammunition, the government added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 20:03:05|Editor: ZX Video Player Close RIYADH, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud will start on Sunday an official Asian tour, Sabq local online news reported. The visit, including Pakistan, China and India, will be the first of this year and comes after a regional tour to some Arab countries in November 2018. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry announced that the Saudi crown prince will meet the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and several senior officials, and will sign memorandums of understanding related to finance, energy, renewable energy, homeland security, media, culture and sports. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that the Saudi crown prince will visit China on Wednesday, highlighting that the visit will deepen cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China. He will also visit India for the first time next week and will sign various agreements. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 19:48:04|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to strengthen the coordination of both countries' armies in Syria. The meeting will be held on Thursday, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the meeting is aimed to "prevent friction between the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the Russian army." The prime minister said the meeting will focus also on Israel's efforts to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Syria. "These talks are very important and part of our ongoing effort to ensure the freedom of action of the State of Israel against Iran and its proxies," Netanyahu said, charging that Iran has "declared its intention to use Syria as a frontline in their struggle to destroy Israel." Earlier in February, Netanyahu met with a delegation of senior Russian officials in Jerusalem to discuss "strengthening the security coordination mechanism between the militaries to prevent possible friction in Syria." Israel and Russia hold a hotline to avoid their air forces from clashing in the Syrian battlefield. Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of deadly airstrikes in Syria, saying that they targeted on Iranian sites and weapons' convoys to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 19:43:03|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close MANILA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two men were killed and another woman injured when unidentified gunmen aboard a motorcycle fired at a traveling car along EDSA highway in Mandaluyong City of the Philippines on Sunday, authorities said. According to the police, the white van pulled out of a gasoline station when armed men riding tandem on a black motorcycle pumped bullets at the passenger side of the van around 3:25 p.m.. The two killed included the driver and a 62-yeard-old passenger who the police said was a businessman. The woman passenger survived the attack and is now recuperating from a gun wound in a nearby hospital, a police officer told reporters. Initial investigation said the van came from Clark City in Pampanga province, north of Manila. An investigation is under way to determine the motive of the attack. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 19:38:00|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed on Sunday acting minister of foreign affairs, following a Supreme Court's petition calling him to relinquish the portfolio. An official statement said that Yisrael Katz, who has already held the intelligence and transportation portfolios, will be appointed as the acting minister of foreign affairs. The appointment was scheduled to come to vote at the Sunday's cabinet meeting. Netanyahu's office announced on Thursday that he would appoint a new acting minister of foreign affairs in response to a petition of the Supreme Court over the multiple ministerial portfolios he holds. The petition, filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a democracy watchdog group, called Netanyahu to relinquish the foreign affairs portfolio he had been holding since 2015. Following Netanyahu's re-election in 2015, he has been serving as the country's defense, health, and foreign minister, in addition to his capacity as prime minister. He also served as communication minister from 2015 to 2017, and held the regional cooperation portfolio before relinquishing it in 2016. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 19:38:00|Editor: mmm Video Player Close Photo taken on Feb. 17, 2019 shows a few students at a primary school in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi teachers began on Sunday a two-day nationwide strike, demanding improvement in curriculum and levels of educational system, as well as increasing the living standard of the teaching staff. The strike included primary and secondary schools in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood) BAGHDAD, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi teachers began on Sunday a two-day nationwide strike, demanding improvement in curriculum and levels of educational system, as well as increasing the living standard of the teaching staff. "Iraqi teachers are on strike for Sunday and Monday in all the Iraqi provinces (except for the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan), aiming at drawing attention to the deteriorated educational process in the country," Abbas al-Sudani, head of the Iraqi Teachers' Syndicate, told a gathering at the building of the syndicate in Baghdad. The strike included primary and secondary schools in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces. "The educational process in Iraq has dramatically declined," al-Sudani said. "We need to improve the quality of the Iraqi student and reform the educational curriculum, in addition to support the infrastructure as the needs of thousands of schools," al-Sudani added. He said that the government "should allocate a proper budget for the Ministry of Education, which will improve the level of teachers through real development courses." In the 1970s and 1980s, Iraq had one of the best educational performances in the region with high literacy levels. But after the first Gulf war in 1991 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the country's education has suffered a lot by the 13 years of UN sanctions, U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and years of instability that followed. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 19:33:00|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close KABUL, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least four militants were killed and a Taliban hideout was destroyed after Afghan security forces waged an operation in eastern province of Paktika overnight, Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs said Sunday. "The raid was launched in Abdul Dara locality of Gomal district last night. Security forces also confiscated two militants' vehicles after the operation," the ministry said in a statement. The security forces have not suffered any damage during the operation in the province, 155 km south of Kabul, the statement added. Violence has been on the rise as Afghan security forces struggle against a surge in attacks by anti-government fighters since the drawdown of foreign forces within the past four years. The Taliban militant group has not responded to the report so far. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 19:22:56|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close MOGADISHU, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Somali National Army (SNA) killed a senior al-Shabab commander in an operation in Bakol region in southwestern Somalia, officials said on Sunday. Warsame Mahamed Diriye, commander of SNA section 60's unit nine, told journalists that they had killed a senior al-Shabab leader in an operation conducted on Friday afternoon in the vicinity of Shidle in the country's southern region of Bakol. "Our forces killed Aliyow Iman Ibrahim who was a prominent operational commander of al-Shabab extremist in a routine offensive in Bakol region. A member of his staffs also injured in the operation," the commander said. He added that one of his soldiers sustained injury during the operation. Residents said they heard the sound of gun fire. "Somali forces attacked al-Shabab militants in the town; there was a huge gunfire in the area," Said Haji, a resident, told Xinhua. Somali forces backed by African Union Mission in Somalia intensified operations on al-Shabab extremists in central and southern Somalia, conducting consecutive offensives to drive the militants out of these regions. Al-Qaida affiliated group al-Shabab did not comment on the latest incident. More than 200 Nepalis are languishing in Malaysia jails As many as 206 Nepalis are languishing in different jails of Malaysia, according to the Nepali Embassy in Malaysia. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 19:07:53|Editor: ZX Video Player Close GUIYANG, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Guizhou Province grabbed the biggest share of baijiu (white alcohol) profit across the country last year, authorities said. Representatives of 28 liquor-making companies, including China's leading liquor maker Kweichow Moutai, attended a round-table conference in Guizhou, an important liquor production base in China. Wang Jiaqiang, with the provincial department of industry and information technology, said at the conference that Guizhou's baijiu industry growth has maintained good momentum. Last year, Guizhou churned out 3.5 percent of the country's total baijiu, and accounted for 43 percent of the profit from the baijiu industry nationwide, Wang said. Revenue from Guizhou's exports of white alcohol reached about 3.3 billion yuan (487 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, accounting for more than 70 percent of the country's total. Kweichow Moutai recorded an export revenue of 3.22 billion yuan, the highest in China. Moutai is a sorghum-based spirit produced by Kweichow Moutai and is China's top brand of baijiu. The liquor, which is often served on official occasions and at state banquets, is considered a luxury item and has long been a popular gift. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 18:52:51|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least two civilians lost their lives and five others sustained injuries after the Taliban militants opened fire on a police vehicle in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan province on Sunday, a local official said. The official, who declined to be identified, said the Taliban fighters targeted a police van in a bazaar in Baghlan-e-Markazi district of Baghlan province at around noon, killing two civilians and wounding five others. One of the injured in the firing is a police constable, the source added. Meantime, Abdul Khalil Narmgoi, the director of hospital in Baghlan-e-Markazi district, confirmed with Xinhua that two dead bodies and five injured persons had been taken to hospital. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 18:27:47|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close LILONGWE, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Malawi is now free from trachoma, beating the international trachoma elimination deadline of 2020 as set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a government spokesperson. Ministry of health spokesperson Joshua Malango told local media Saturday that recent impact survey showed that active trachoma in Malawi is less than 1 percent. According to Malango, this is far below 5 percent which is WHO's recommended prevalence rate of trachoma for a country to be declared free of the disease. "WHO set 2020 as the year to eliminate blinding trachoma but as a country we set 2019 as our target and we have managed to bring the prevalence rate of the disease to less than 1 percent and, as we speak now, trachoma is no longer a public health problem," said Malango. He said this has been achieved following mass trachoma drug administration in the districts where the disease was prevalent, such as the lakeshore districts of Mangochi and Nkhotakota, Nsanje and Chikwawa down south. In 2018, the director for clinical services responsible for eye care in the ministry of health, Michael Masika, said the ministry had already engaged other neighboring countries to ensure that the disease is eliminated altogether. In 1996, WHO launched the Alliance for the Global Elimination of Trachoma by the year 2020. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 18:27:45|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close NAIROBI, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Saturday night recalled its ambassador to Somalia after Mogadishu auctioned oil blocs in areas also claimed by Nairobi. Macharia Kamau, principal secretary of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Lucas Tumbo, Kenya's ambassador to Somalia, has been summoned to Nairobi for consultations after oil and gas blocks in disputed territorial areas were auctioned to Britain. He said Somalia "carelessly" ignored internationally accepted norms of boundary disputes resolution as well as political and diplomatic disagreements. Kamau also said Mogadishu has sadly demonstrated that it has not yet attained and embraced political maturity and diplomatic stance of a normal, well-adjusted and properly functioning modern government. He described the move by Somalia to auction oil and gas blocks in disputed territory as "tragic and regretful" and added it has severely undermined the existing cordial and brotherly relations between the two countries. The Kenyan official said it is regrettable that despite Kenya's efforts to assist Somalia in regaining its footing after years of civil war, it has chosen to act otherwise. He said Kenya now plans to move to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek redress on the matter. Somalia has so far not yet responded to Kenya's move to recall the ambassador. Kenya and Somalia have been involved in a maritime border dispute for years. Kenya claimed it has long considered the maritime border to go along the parallel of latitude, whereas Somalia wants it to continue along the line of its land border, citing international sea laws. The disputed triangular area off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean covers some 100,000 square km. The dispute was taken to the ICJ by Somalia in 2014. Kenya has contested the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case and to the admissibility of the suit on the basis of a 2009 agreement between the two countries that the dispute would be resolved through negotiation. The auction of oil blocs in disputed areas by Somalia reportedly took place in London on Feb. 7. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 18:07:42|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Outside the campus of the Communication University of China, Zhang Ke carries her drawing board and pigments as she hurries to another exam site in Beijing in the chilly wind. "I applied for three art majors this year, and I have entered the final rounds for all three," Zhang said. The entrance exams for art academies have begun in China, and students from across the country are striving to try to secure a place in the college of their dreams. In Beijing, the number of applicants to famous art colleges, including Communication University of China, Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama, all reported a record number of applicants this year. The admission exam of the Beijing Film Academy began Saturday, with close to 60,000 applicants joining in the competition, a year-on-year increase of 31 percent, according to the academy. The academy plans to recruit 520 students this year, 30 more than in 2018, for its 16 schools and departments. A total of 10,454 students have applied for the academy's Performing Arts School, which will enroll only 60 students, based on candidates' performances during the art exam and their results in gaokao -- China's national college entrance examination. Among the 24 majors open for application, new media art reported the biggest growth, with a year-on-year increase of 284.36 percent in the number of applicants. Similar situations can be found in the Central Academy of Drama, where more than 67,000 applicants are competing for 573 positions. The number of this year's applicants is the highest in the academy's history. In the Communication University of China, about 50,000 have taken part in the college's exam. More than 10,000 students have applied for the university's performing arts major, which will recruit just 26. In the face of cut-throat competition, students like Zhang Ke are trying their best to make their artistic dreams come true. "I always loved paintings and cartoons," Zhang said. "When I was in high school, I was determined to study a major related to cartoons. I hope one day I can create an iconic cartoon character." Zhang Weinan, from east China's Jiangxi Province, has a passion for performing arts. "My family did not support me in pursuing art because they thought it would be too difficult," said Zhang, all smiles. "But I adore performing, and I chose to chase my dream." Many parents also showed up to give moral support to their children. Han Gaoming, 48, took his daughter all the way from the northern Shanxi Province to Beijing to chase her dream of being a director. "I have been encouraging her," Han said. "She wants to be a director in the future." Han said his daughter often directed high school programs and he hopes she can make it into one of the art colleges. Art colleges in China have been raising demands on applicants' "comprehensive abilities" by requiring good exam scores in literature, history and philosophy. Han calls the change "very important." "I think it's necessary to cultivate children's comprehensive abilities," Han said. "But my biggest wish is for my daughter to be happy, and I wish her all the best in the exams." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 18:02:40|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close YAOUNDE, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen released 145 students and teachers in a restive English-speaking region of Cameroon on Sunday, about 24 hours after their kidnapping, school authorities said. The students and teachers were abducted early Saturday from a private college in Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon. School officials told Xinhua that only 11 students and three teachers were kidnapped, but "further investigation" revealed that the actual number stood at more than 100. "After further investigation we realized 145 were kidnapped, among them three teachers. They have all been released unharmed. They got to the school this night. They will be reuniting with their families on Sunday," Rev. Oliver Shey, a senior administrator of the school, told Xinhua. "We did not pay any ransom," he added, without saying who had kidnapped them and for what reason. The government and armed separatists have been engaged in a blame-game of rampant kidnappings in the strife-torn regions. The government regularly accuses separatists of the abductions while the separatists insist that they were staged by the government to tarnish their image internationally. Armed separatists fighting for the "independence" of the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest in Cameroon have been clashing with government forces since November 2017. The separatists have ordered the closure of schools in the regions. Local authorities said the separatists have torched more than 100 schools that insist to operate. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 17:57:37|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close FUZHOU, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and another 14 injured after a house collapsed in east China's Fujian Province. The accident happened at 5:50 a.m. Saturday in Cangshan District in the city of Fuzhou, the provincial capital, where a self-built house made of bricks and concrete fell, according to Fuzhou's public security bureau. The accident trapped 17 people, three of whom died due to severe injuries. The rest did not sustain life-threatening injuries, and six have been discharged from the hospital. The two house owners, both surnamed Zheng, have been detained and are being investigated on suspicion of harming public security. The collapsed house was built in 2003. An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 17:47:35|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Sunday detained at least four foreigners in the northwestern province of Bursa over their suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group. Counter-terrorism units captured the suspects in the Mudanya district, including two women sought with a red and a blue notice, the private NTV broadcaster said. One female suspect is a Dutch citizen with Moroccan root, while the other has double citizenship of Morocco and the Netherlands, the NTV said. The two male detainees, an Iraqi citizen and a Dutch national with Iraqi origin, were accused of providing shelters for the female suspects and being accessories, according to the broadcaster. More than 300 people were killed in deadly attacks in Turkey over the years blamed on the IS. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 16:07:18|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday required European allies to take back 800 Islamic State (IS) militants arrested in Syria after the U.S. withdrawal. "The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial," Trump tweeted late Saturday. Trump said it was time "for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing" after the U.S. had expended plenty of resources in Syria. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detained more than 900 foreign fighters during their campaign against the IS in northeastern Syria, media reported. The SDF has warned that they may not be able to hold IS fighters after the departure of U.S. forces, which was ordered by the Trump administration last December. According to media reports, French officials said that some French jihadists had returned to France and more would follow. Britain, however, refused to take back citizens who had joined the IS, and other European countries have remained largely silent about this issue. In his Saturday twitter, Trump also said that "the Caliphate is ready to fall" and reaffirmed the U.S. pullback from Syria after a complete defeat of the IS. General Joseph Votel, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, told the media last Sunday that the United States would likely start to withdraw its troops from Syria in the coming weeks. Trump said on Friday morning at the White House that "success with the eradication of the caliphate" would be announced over the next 24 hours. U.S. media reported that the SDF launched an offensive against the IS in eastern Syria on Feb. 9, aiming to wipe out the last enclave of the extremist group. The SDF commander said Saturday that his forces had slowed down their advance to protect civilians, seeking to secure victory in a few days. Despite the progress of the multinational campaign against the IS in Syria, Votel cautioned that some remaining IS fighters have "dispersed" and "gone to ground," warning that the IS forces have the ability of "coming back together." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 16:07:18|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- China National Petroleum Corp., the world's third-biggest oil company, plans to build 23 new gas storage facilities and expand 10 existing ones by 2030, with working gas capacity exceeding 15 billion cubic meters, the company said Sunday. The move aims to meet the increasing demand for gas in the world's second-largest economy, following a harsh winter that saw a supply squeeze, partly due to storage shortfalls. The move also comes amid the country's efforts to tackle environmental pollution. China has been promoting efficient, large-scale use of natural gas in the industrial fuel, gas-fired power and transport sectors. The country aims to make natural gas consumption account for around 10 percent of the country's energy mix by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030. China's natural gas consumption surged in 2018, rising 18.1 percent to 280.3 billion cubic meters, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The growth accelerated from a rise of 15.3 percent registered in 2017. Mid-day meals attract children to schools in Achham Schools in Achham have seen an increase in their students enrolment rate after the introduction of the mid-day meal programme in the district. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 15:57:16|Editor: ZX Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese New Year has gone global in the last couple of years with a marked uptick in engagement worldwide. Heavily impacted by the growing global awareness of Chinese New Year is the retail sector -- especially high-end merchandise and luxury brands. Brand leaders and major retail chains are finding Chinese New Year has a profound effect not just on the global supply chain for their goods sourced from China, but on their retail sales at home as well. In fact, Chinese consumers accounted for 32 percent of all luxury brand purchases worldwide in the year 2017, according to Boston-based consultancy Bain & Co. A November study by the company also said Chinese consumers will be responsible for nearly half of global high-end luxury sales by 2025. Buying new things to wear and to give as gifts is an important way for Chinese consumers to celebrate the New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year. Total earnings of retail and catering enterprises in China reached around 900 billion yuan (about 133 billion U.S. dollars) during the 2018 Chinese New Year holiday period, according to data released by China's Ministry of Commerce. So savvy global brands and top retail chains are all "seeing red" -- the official Chinese New Year color -- and getting into the action to promote their goods and services by targeting Chinese consumers with new product lines, specialty items and marketing campaigns inspired by the Lunar New Year. The top retailers and global brand leaders have found appealing ways to build hype and consumer anticipation leading up to and beyond the New Year as they seek to expand and extend consumer engagement. In particular, younger Chinese consumers tend to spend their holiday money, rather than save it, and are looking for immediate gratification via shopping, encouraging retailers to target this lucrative demographic. For instance, seeking greater relevance with young Chinese consumers, Lululemon, the Canadian athleisure retailer, created a Chinese New Year collection last year. It paired ten healthier lifestyle practices with ten Chinese cultural elements and lunar festival traditions in a marketing campaign entitled "Practice Takes Practice." Weaving elements of the traditional Chinese zodiac into product designs and marketing campaigns can lead to successful cross-cultural sales opportunities and helps brands appeal to Chinese consumers. Also, the animal traits of the zodiac character each year give a hint about how Chinese consumers see the year to come, so they can be artfully taken into account when designing these new products. Online retailer Amazon has a vast array of Chinese New Year theme-related merchandise to entice Year of the Pig shoppers, including decorations, clothing, statues, jewelry, and more, all just one click away. Many top retail chains have also gotten into the Chinese New Year fever, staging Chinese New Year-themed marketing campaigns and merchandise, including London's Harrods and Selfridges, New York's Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macys, Los Angeles area's Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, South Coast Plaza and Santa Anita Mall, and even the city of Beverly Hills and many of its high-end boutiques and hotels. In particular, London-based retailer, Selfridges, staged an entire in-store Chinese New Year campaign, offering traditional Chinese calligraphy lessons, Asian-themed beauty treatments, and other Sino-centric classes. This year at Two Rodeo Drive, a high-end street nestled at the heart of Beverly Hills' world-renowned shopping district, over two dozen leading luxury and fashion boutiques offered special Chinese New Year-themed campaigns and products, including Versace, Audemars Piguet, Tiffany & Co., Jimmy Choo, Stefano Ricci, Carolina Herrera, and more. The global trend to embrace Chinese New Year has been growing for the last several years. This year, for the Year of the Pig, Longchamp released a charming purse with a pigtail design motif in collaboration with Mr. Bags, a leading Shanghai-based Chinese fashion blogger. Dior released an elegant bag which featured a sophisticated red and white-patterned interpretation of traditional Chinese paper cuts. One of the more extensive commitments to Chinese New Year and the booming Chinese market came with Nike. It launched its Kyrie 4 "Chinese New Year" sneaker in 2018, and this year really rolled out the red carpet with an entire limited-edition Chinese New Year collection whose colors and materials were directly inspired by the Chinese zodiac animals and traditional Chinese patchwork. South Coast Plaza, the largest shopping mall on the West Coast of the United States where many top-brand luxuries are sold, welcomed the Lunar New Year with a spectacular celebration. A custom-designed grand Lunar New Year centerpiece was unveiled with eight flying pig figures representing auspicious symbols soaring over a giant figure of a cheerful pig inside an ornate pagoda. "South Coast Plaza continues to elevate the Lunar New Year retail celebration," spokeswoman for South Coast Plaza Debra Gunn Downing told Xinhua at the event. "Visitors have made it an annual tradition to come to us for exclusive and culturally relevant experiences." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 15:52:16|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close Afghan security force members take part in a military operation in Sayad district of Sari Pul province, Afghanistan, Feb. 16, 2019. Afghan government forces have killed 20 militants and overrun a main base of the Taliban outfit in Sayad district of Afghanistan's northern Sari Pul province following fierce fighting, provincial police chief Abdul Karim Baqizoi said Sunday. (Xinhua/Mohammad Jan Aria) SARI PUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghan government forces have killed 20 militants and overrun a main base of the Taliban outfit in Sayad district of Afghanistan's northern Sari Pul province following fierce fighting, provincial police chief Abdul Karim Baqizoi said Sunday. Confirming the operations, provincial government spokesman Zabihullah Amani told Xinhua that several villages have also been recaptured during the operations. Only one security personnel has been killed and another injured, according to Amani. The operations, launched early Tuesday, would last until Sayad district and its vicinity get clear of the insurgents, Amani further said. Taliban militants who operate in parts of Sari Pul province haven't commented yet. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 15:42:14|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- China will make efforts to reduce sugar intake among both children and adults, in a bid to improve the nation's oral health, according to an action plan recently released by the National Health Commission. Primary and middle schools, as well as nurseries, should restrict sales of beverages and snacks high in sugar, said the oral health action plan covering the period from 2019 to 2025, which also required school canteens to offer less sweetened beverages and sugar-rich foods. The country will encourage food manufacturers to use "reduced sugar" or "sugar-free" claims, and help consumers learn how to identify added sugar on nutrition facts labels, according to the plan. A goal has been set to cut the caries incidence among 12-year-old children from 34.5 percent in 2016 to under 30 percent by 2025, the plan said. It expects the average remaining teeth of seniors aged between 65 and 74 to reach 24 by 2025, while the figure was 22.5 in 2016. Interventions will be strengthened to improve oral disease prevention and control, including a ban on smoking in public areas and education about harms of the areca nut, one of the leading causes of oral cancer. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 15:37:14|Editor: mym Video Player Close A staff member pastes a poster of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Yang) MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- If the Munich Security Conference acts as a barometer to gauge world politics, this year has shown quite contradictory trends: confrontation and cooperation, and unilateralism and multilateralism. In a world full of uncertainties and contradictions, China showed itself to be a staunch supporter of global cooperation and multilateralism, and its efforts to maintain the world order have been endorsed at the security conference. WORLD ORDER UNDER DEBATE "The Great Puzzle: Who Will Pick Up the Pieces?" asked the Munich Security Report published ahead of the conference. Last year the report said the world was on the brink of significant conflict and predicted a new era of uncertainty. This time around it seems that the report went further, as it asserted that the world is returning to an era of great power competition. At the opening session of the conference on Friday, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson accused Russia of making the world a less safe place, and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was dividing Europe. Meanwhile on Saturday, China said it hopes that the United States and Russia will return to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks after delivering a keynote speech at the 55th Munich Security Conference. The unilateral declaration by the United States to withdraw from the INF Treaty has serious consequences, and has drawn widespread concern from the international community, he said. Contradictions also exist within the Western bloc. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday advocated for cooperation and multilateralism, sharply criticizing the United States' policies on Syria, Iran and trade issues, while U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in his successive speech ran almost fully counter to Merkel. Igor Yurgens, chairman of the Moscow-based Institute for Contemporary Development, said right now it's more about competition than cooperation in the world, adding that diplomacy does not work, and people do not trust each other at all so that things are getting worse rather than better. "Instability is increasing ... and unfortunately we are seeing multilateralism getting more silent," Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told Xinhua. Wang Yiwei, a professor specializing in international relations at the Beijing-based Renmin University, told Xinhua in an interview that cooperation and competition always go hand-in-hand, but right now due to some unilateral and protectionist acts, competition prevails. CHINA CLEARLY FOR MULTILATERALISM The Munich Security Conference used to focus primarily on European and transatlantic issues. However, China has become a focus at the conference in recent years as it is playing an increasingly important role in global security issues. In his keynote speech, Yang, the head of the Chinese delegation, said unilateralism and protectionism have been on the rise and the multilateral international order and global governance system are being challenged. "China advocates a steadfast commitment to advance international cooperation, uphold and develop multilateralism, and make the international order more just and equitable," Yang said. "History tells us that we can only realize our peoples' dreams for a better life by upholding multilateralism and enhancing global cooperation." "A very good speech," said Johann Wadephul, a member of the German Bundestag and deputy chairman of the parliamentary group of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. Wadephul told Xinhua that Yang's speech seemed to advocate a multilateral system that he is optimistic would prevail in the world. Besides Yang, other Chinese officials, former officials and scholars also exchanged ideas with other participants and explained China's major foreign policies that welcome global cooperation and multilateralism, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. Wang said both China and Europe embrace multilateralism with the United Nations (UN) at its center. Both sides stress equal consultation and participation, rather than making decisions alone. CHINA'S ROLE ENDORSED "On every occasion participants are talking about China ... which showed that China has become strong and is approaching the center of the global stage," said Wu Shicun, president of China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies, who took part in the conference. China is assuming more global responsibility during its development, such as its efforts to safeguard global peace and security through UN peacekeeping missions, including anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden. "China obviously contributes its dynamic economy, participation in mutually beneficial trade, and its increasing wealth to international development, as well as its infrastructure development such as the Belt and Road Initiative," Alexander Vershbow, former deputy secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), told Xinhua. "I think China is becoming a contributor to global stability. Although not every project is perfect, I think it is a net contributor to global stability through global engagement," Vershbow said. "One of the things I would like to see is China becoming a more regular contributor to the world's public goods," said Charles Kupchan, who served as special assistant to former U.S. President Barack Obama on national security. "The AIIB is such a public good," he said in reference to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) initiated by China. "China has stepped forward, creating a vehicle for development assistance. It has evolved in a positive way. It's not really competing with other lenders. It works in many cases with the existing financial institutions," said Kupchan. "The BRI seems to be a very serious initiative with a lot of investment and a lot of international efforts. It's a big project that many countries can take part in, including Russia," said Yurgens. (Ren Ke, Yan Feng, Li Meng, Lian Zhen, Zhang Yuan, Zhu Sheng and Qiao Jihong contributed to the story.) (Video editor: Luo Hui) Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 15:32:12|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close RIGA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Latvia's mobile operator Bite Latvija said earlier this week it will continue building its 5G infrastructure in partnership with Huawei. At this point, the Latvian telecommunications company has no reasons to suspect Huawei of any ill intentions, local media quoted Bite Latvija technical manager Gints Butens as saying. A security check conducted by Bite Latvija had revealed no risks associated with the Chinese telecom giant, Butens said, adding that the company hires independent experts to audit its network on a regular basis. Meanwhile, other international partners including Deutsche Telekom, Elisa, Orange, Telia Sonera and Vodafone, who also work with Huawei, have not provided any intelligence suggesting that Huawei's technologies might pose security risks to mobile networks and their users, the Bite Latvija representative said. "As for our cooperation so far, there has been no reason for us to doubt Huawei's integrity. If such a reason emerges, we of course will take action," Butens said, adding that Bite Latvija is confident that Huawei abides by international law and treats its clients, partners and the international community responsibly. Last November, Bite Latvija and Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding on building 5G infrastructure for the Latvian operator's network, including several 5G base stations in Riga and a Narrowband Internet of Things across the country. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 15:07:09|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close by Xiong Maoling WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon's decision to pull out of a planned corporate campus in New York City might came as a victory for those who strongly opposed its presence, but some argue that it's a major loss for the city in the long run. In an unexpected announcement, the Seattle-based company said on Thursday it would not build a new headquarters in Long Island City due to opposition from "some state and local politicians." Amazon said it made the decision "after much thought and deliberation." "I think it's a shocker for everybody, particularly in New York," David Reibstein, a marketing professor from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told Xinhua. Reibstein, who has been following the issue closely, said he believes the strong resistance in New York came from some politicians and residents who argue that the reportedly 3-billion-US-dollar incentives are unnecessary. Labor unions regarded Amazon as "a hard negotiator." The company's new headquarters plan has drawn backlash since November, when it announced its decision to split its new headquarters between Long Island City in the New York City borough of Queens and Crystal City, Arlington County in the state of Virginia. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the Bronx and Queens in the U.S. House, has been one of the most vocal critics. She didn't refrain from expressing her joy shortly after Amazon's announcement. "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. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo didn't share Ocasio-Cortez's sentiments. In a statement, the governor denounced the New York State Senate, saying that they should be "held accountable for this lost economic opportunity." "A small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community... the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state," Cuomo said. Reibstein said he also believes Amazon's retreat would be "a huge loss" for New York. The 25,000 plus high-paying jobs, considerable tax revenues, all the auxiliary businesses, and the image of New York being even more of a "tech hub," are among the benefits that the city won't be able to enjoy, he said. However, some are relieved that New York's incentive package is now off the table. In an opinion piece titled "New York doesn't need Amazon's sweetheart deal" published Thursday by The New York Times, Bryce Covert said that huge incentive packages are a burden for taxpayers, and she encouraged other cities to follow New York's lead. "While not all of those who spoke out against the deal wanted it scrapped, they were united by a common concern: Why does a company with billions in profit need billions of New York's money to bring 25,000 jobs to a city where it already has a significant presence? Especially after the company admitted that such enticements were a secondary factor in its decision making?" she argued. The U.S. online retail powerhouse currently employs over 5,000 workers in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island in New York City. These kinds of economic incentive deals are typically struck "with little public oversight," Covert said, noting that such tax incentive deals might not have the intended impact. Reibstein said the pullout highlighted the importance of communicating with the public in such major decisions. "The city failed to do an adequate job of really understanding and assessing what the community's reaction was going to be," he said. "They needed to educate the community about what would be the benefits of having Amazon located there," Reibstein said, adding that the company should have helped in that as well. Amazon said polls show 70 percent of New Yorkers support its plans and investments in the city, but some in the community have voiced their concerns about the rising cost of living and added traffic congestion due to the influx of high-paid employees. The company said it does not intend to search for an alternative site for its second headquarters, but it will continue its headquarters plan in Arlington, a suburb of the capital Richmond, and push forward with the construction of a new operation center in Nashville in the state of Tennessee. Just hours after Amazon's announcement, Virginia officials held a call with reporters and confirmed that the company's expansion plans in Arlington remain. Christian Dorsey, Arlington County Board chairman, said his area had done a better job in making preparations for the arrival of Amazon, which "highlighted a particular community dynamic in a region that has its act together." Reibstein said the company can easily just expand what they had originally planned for the Virginia operation, instead of looking somewhere else. "They clearly need to do more diligence of what the receptivity is going to be. They don't want to go into another city and find the same repercussions." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 14:47:07|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least eight Afghan police officers were killed and three others wounded after Taliban stormed a security checkpoint in northern province of Balkh overnight, a local official said Sunday. "Taliban attacked a security checkpoint with guns and rocket propelled grenades mid-night. Police officers guarding a gas pipeline in Harab-e-Mazari village, Chimtal district responded to the attack. The exchange of fire left eight police killed and three others wounded," district chief Matin Khojazada told Xinhua. Several militants were also killed and wounded during the gun battle, but their number could not be specified as the militants evacuated their casualties after the fighting, he said. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, tweeted that the insurgents' fighters also destroyed the security checkpoint and two police vehicle. Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan as the Taliban insurgency spreads from its traditional strongholds in the south and east to the once peaceful region in the north, where Taliban have been recruiting among the youth. The district, 305 km north of Kabul, has been the scene of clashes for long. The militants have also intensified attacks on security forces and staged coordinated large-scale attacks in Afghan cities and districts. On Friday, 32 Afghan border force personnel were killed in a Taliban attack in southern Kandahar province. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 14:37:04|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close A miner's body is put on a pickup truck near a flooded shaft at a mine in Battlefields, Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe, Feb. 16, 2019. Eleven illegal miners were rescued Saturday after being trapped in a gold mine in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland West Province. So far, 24 bodies have been retrieved as rescuers continue to search for survivors. (Xinhua/Shaun Jusa) HARARE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Eleven illegal miners were rescued Saturday after being trapped in a gold mine in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland West Province. Deputy Chief Mining Engineer of the Zimbabwean government Tapererwa Paswavaviri told reporters at the scene that these miners survived by escaping to higher ground, state media New Ziana reported. "We are yet to assess and find out if there are more people down there who are still alive. But indications are that some of the guys succumbed to gassing, that was the major cause of fatalities," he said. The illegal miners were trapped when the shafts they were working in were flooded Tuesday night after a nearby dam burst. So far, 24 bodies have been retrieved as rescuers continue to search for survivors. Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo said Friday that between 60 and 70 miners were trapped after the incident. President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the incident a State of Disaster on Friday. Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka told media that the tragedy was a big wake up call for mining authorities and miners on the need to adhere to safety standards. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 14:12:01|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 8 Afghan police officers were killed and three others wounded after Taliban stormed a security checkpoint in northern province of Balkh overnight, a local official said Sunday. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 14:12:00|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close CANBERRA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has issued a stern message to people smugglers and would-be asylum seekers, warning them to stay away from Australia. Morrison, who was the architect of Australia's strict border policies during his time as the minister for immigration and border protection between 2013 and 2014, has recorded a video message for prospective people smugglers. In the video, Morrison tells viewers that "no one who attempts an illegal boat journey to Australia will ever be allowed to settle here." It was recorded after the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) teamed up with independent Members of Parliament (MPs) to deliver a historic defeat for the government in parliament, passing new laws for the medical evacuations of asylum seekers being held in offshore detention. Despite the laws only applying to those in detention at the time the bill was passed, the governing Liberal-National party coalition (LNP) has argued it will pave the way for more asylum seekers to try to enter Australia illegally by boat. "Australian border protection authorities will intercept any people smuggling boat that approaches Australia and they will return those on board to their country of departure or home country," Morrison said in the video. "Thousands of people travelled to Australia illegally in the past...I will never allow this to happen again." Christian Porter, the attorney-general for Australia, said on Sunday that the government was carrying out criminal assessments on current detainees who are seeking medical transfers to the mainland. Medical council makes professional training mandatory for doctors In a bid to keep medical doctors updated on their academic achievements and to enhance their skills, the Nepal Medical Council has introduced a new rule that requires all medical practitioners to take regular professional development training. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 13:16:54|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to work together with the international community to help realize long-lasting peace and stability in Libya, a senior Chinese official said here Saturday. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during his meeting with Fayez Serraj, prime minister of the Government of National Accord of Libya, on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Conference. Yang said China attaches great importance to the development of friendly cooperation with Libya. The inking of a memorandum of understanding on jointly building the Belt and Road between the two countries last year is conducive to bilateral pragmatic cooperation, he said. Noting that the political process to resolve Libya's problem has entered a crucial stage, Yang said China welcomes the three-step solution proposed by the United Nations envoy to Libya and is willing to work together with the international community to help realize long-lasting peace and stability in Libya. China also stands ready to work with Libya and other African countries to implement the outcomes of the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, he said. Serraj said the relationship between China and Libya is developing well and thanked China for its just position on the Libya issue as the country is in a special phase. Libya is willing to carry out high-level exchanges with China and strengthen cooperation in economy and other fields, Serraj said, adding that Libya welcomes Chinese enterprises to participate in the country's rebuilding process. The prime minister also spoke highly of China's Africa policy and China-Africa cooperation, saying that Libya is willing to closely communicate and coordinate with China in multilateral affairs. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 13:06:53|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Yang Jiechi (2nd R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2nd L) during the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Yang) MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials of China and Russia agreed to work together to safeguard common interests and promote bilateral cooperation at a meeting here on Saturday on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Conference. The meeting was between Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Both delivered keynote speeches during the three-day security forum, which opened Friday in the Bavarian capital of Munich, southern Germany. During the meeting, Yang said that thanks to the strategic leadership and personal promotion of President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin, the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia has developed greatly. Political trust between the two countries has been consolidated with bilateral trade volume reaching a historic high, Yang said, adding that both sides have also achieved important cooperative outcomes in areas such as interconnection and energy. All these outcomes, Yang noted, have not only brought substantive benefits to both peoples, but also are conducive to peace, stability, security and development in their region and the world as a whole. Yang said Chinese and Russian heads of state will continue to maintain close exchanges as the two countries celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year. He said that the Chinese side will make joint efforts with the Russian side to implement all consensuses reached between the two heads of state and keep expanding comprehensive cooperation in all fields to safeguard the bilateral relationship and common interests. Lavrov, for his part, told Yang that the Russian side has attached great importance to the development of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries. The bilateral relationship has achieved great progress through joint efforts, he added, citing frequent contacts between top leaders of both sides and a record-high mutual trade volume worth over 100 billion U.S. dollars as examples. Russia's top diplomat said that his country will work with China to prepare well for the exchanges between both heads of state through this year as well as practical cooperation in various fields so as to promote a more fruitful bilateral relationship. Yang and Lavrov also exchanged views on regional and international hotspot issues of mutual concern. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 12:51:51|Editor: zh Video Player Close MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Under the current international situation, China and Germany are willing to enhance cooperation, senior officials said on Saturday. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Conference. Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said that China and Germany are all-round strategic partners. Many achievements have been made by the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. China is willing to maintain close high-level contacts, and to strengthen dialogue and communication at all levels and in all fields. Yang said that China is willing to share opportunities brought by the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and continues to supply foreign companies investing in China with an open, transparent and fair market environment. Yang hopes that Germany will continue to treat Chinese companies' investment and high-tech cooperation in Germany in an objective and open manner. China attaches great importance to China-Europe ties and will continue to support the European integration process and back Europe in playing an important role in international affairs, Yang said. It is necessary for both countries to strengthen cooperation in the current international situation. Both sides should stick to multilateralism and a rules-based international order, and encourage China-Germany and China-Europe relations to realize new development, Yang said. For his part, Maas said that Germany attaches great importance to the development of bilateral relations with China. It is "inspiring to keep bilateral relations at a high level," Maas said, adding that Germany is willing to strengthen cooperation in all fields, including cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. In the current international situation, Maas said, Germany expects China to play a more important role in international issues and is willing to enhance strategic communication and cooperation in multilateral affairs with China, so as to cope with global challenges together. The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional hotspot issues of common concern. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 12:36:49|Editor: zh Video Player Close HAVANA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- In just a few days, the 21st edition of Cuba's Habanos Cigar Festival will kick off to honor the 500th anniversary of Havana and launch new premium handmade cigars to aficionados worldwide. The long anticipated event, which brings together cigar lovers, experts, executives and traders from around 60 countries, will begin on Feb. 18. It is also dedicated to the host city's upcoming 500th anniversary in November this year. The festival, which will run until Feb. 22, is also the occasion to honor premium cigars, one of Cuba's leading exports. As usual, there will be a trade fair that has become a meeting point for manufacturers, distributors and consumers from various latitudes. On this occasion, Habanos S.A., the Cuban-Spanish company which globally commercializes the cigars, has dedicated a special event to one of the brands closely related to Havana. "The San Cristobal de La Habana brand which also turns 20 years old this year will have custom-made cigars for the occasion and will be showcased at the inaugural gala of the festival," Jose Maria Lopez, the company's development vice president, told Xinhua. "Trinidad," one of the firm's most luxurious brands, will celebrate its 50th anniversary and new cigar launchings are expected to attract the attention of visitors to the festival. "This is a brand that in its early years was not marketed to the public as it was used exclusively for state gifts. In the 90's it was launched internationally and we have several initiatives to celebrate this important moment," said Lopez. "The Trade Fair is the meeting and interchange point for professionals in the tobacco industry worldwide, exhibitors from other luxury goods manufacturers, as well as craftspeople, artists and manufacturers of smoking paraphernalia and gourmet products," added Lopez. As part of the activities, participants will visit plantations in Vuelta Abajo, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, which is considered to be the best land in the world for growing tobacco. Guests will also visit factories in the capital and participate in conferences, blind tastings, presentations, contests and the traditional auction of humidors at the closing gala dinner, whose funds are donated to the Cuban health system. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 12:11:47|Editor: zh Video Player Close SYDNEY, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Police in Australia's Victoria state are beefing up their arsenal, including new specialist rifles, to better protect the community from terrorism and other major incidents, according to a government statement on Sunday. Other than up to 600 of the longarm rifles, the new weapons and ancillary equipment include optical sighting and tactical light systems, funded by 25 million Australian dollars (17.87 million U.S. dollars), said the statement. "These new longarm rifles will ensure police can respond quickly and effectively to critical incidents, particularly in regional Victoria," the state's Minister for Police and Emergency Services Lisa Neville said in a statement. "We're giving police the powers, tools and resources they need to tackle emerging risks, including lone wolf attacks and major incidents." About 800 police from an operations response unit and four regional police stations will be "specifically trained to use the equipment," according to the statement. The unit tackles high-priority public safety, road policing and crime, as well as providing rapid response to major security incidents and disasters across the state, police said. The move is the latest in a string of security measures by the state, including the installation of public safety warning loud speakers in its capital Melbourne, following the recommendations of a major counter-terrorism review. Late last year, police had treated a stabbing incident in central Melbourne that left one victim dead and two others injured as terror related. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 12:01:46|Editor: zh Video Player Close BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- An own goal from defender Manuel Guanini handed Defensa y Justicia a 1-0 win over Gimnasia on Saturday and lifted the small club from the city of Florencio Varela to the top of the Superliga Argentina standings. Guanini turned the ball into his own net in the 15th minute and the goal was enough to give Defensa y Justicia their 13th win from 19 matches this season. They hold a three-point lead over second-placed Racing Club, who could regain top spot by beating Godoy Cruz at home on Monday. Gimnasia dropped to 22nd in the 26-team standings, 27 points behind the leaders. In other matches on Saturday, Newell's Old Boys drew 1-1 at San Lorenzo, Patronato were held to a goalless home draw by Aldosivi and San Martin drew 1-1 at home to Independiente. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 11:51:44|Editor: zh Video Player Close YANGON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- People were seen busily entering Myanmar's traditional Htamane (sticky rice)-making competitions in two major cities of Yangon and Mandalay Saturday with high spirit, accompanied by traditional music groups and fans. Many of such competitions are held at monasteries and pagoda compounds, while some others were held in residential areas, partly to attract visitors and promote tourism. No invitations are necessary. Just walk into any competition and you will be warmly welcomed, according to Myanmar traditional customs. In every February, the Myanmar people organize competitions to make the finest sticky rice. The glutinous rice, either white or black, is put in a huge iron wok. Water and oil were added. Then the rice was cooked and stirred at the same time by teams of muscular youths. Slowly other ingredients such as coconut shavings, sesame seeds, groundnuts, sliced ginger are added to enhance the flavor. At first, stirring seemed to be easy, but slowly it got harder and harder as the rice grains soaked up water and swelled, and consequently things in the wok became one sticky mess of glutinous matter which was very difficult to stir. Sweating from brows, the youths tried harder to stir the sticky pudding, making sure everything was thoroughly mixed inside the rice. After the stirring and cooking, women would busily distribute the delicious ticky rice pudding to monks and pilgrims as charity food. Small packets of the sticky rice pudding were also given to neighbors and friends by children as a popular snack. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 11:06:38|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close YAOUNDE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 students and teachers of a private college in Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon, were kidnapped on early Saturday, according to school authorities. School officials earlier told Xinhua that only eleven students and three teachers had been kidnapped, but further investigations have revealed that more than 100 students and teachers have been kidnapped. "We now know after further investigations that more than 100 students and teachers were kidnapped. The teachers are not many but the majority of those kidnapped are girls. In fact, all the students and teachers who were on campus have been kidnapped," Rev. Oliver Shey, a senior administrator of the school, told Xinhua. "We do not know where they are. We are still waiting for the kidnappers to call. We hope that they will be released this night," he added. Local authorities said government forces are still tracing the whereabouts of the kidnapped students and teachers. The government and armed separatists have been engaged in a blame-game of rampant kidnappings in the strife-torn regions. The government regularly accuses separatists of the abductions, however, separatists insist that they are staged by the government to tarnish their image internationally. Armed separatists fighting for the "independence" of the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest in Cameroon have been clashing with government forces since November 2017. The separatists have ordered the closure of schools in the regions. Local authorities said the separatists have torched more than 100 schools that still continue to operate. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 10:51:34|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close ABUJA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Saturday ordered the re-opening of all the nation's borders following the postponement of presidential and national assembly polls by the electoral body. The land borders were closed on Thursday to ensure a smooth process of the elections earlier scheduled for Saturday. In a brief statement, Muhammad Babandede, comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service, said the borders had been re-opened for the free movement of persons. Babandede said immigration officers would continue their normal border control and patrol duties to ensure that all persons crossing Nigeria's land, air, and sea borders traveled with valid and authentic documents. Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission on early Saturday announced a postponement of the polls by one week, citing issues bordering on logistics. Security is often a major concern at Nigerian elections. Apart from politically-linked violence among supporters of rival political parties, the country's armed forces are in a battle with terror group Boko Haram, which is seeking to establish an Islamic state in the northeast region. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 10:41:32|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close LAGOS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 80 people held captive by armed bandits in the northwestern state of Zamfara have been rescued by Nigerian government forces, an official said Saturday. In a statement issued in Gusau, capital of Zamfara, air force spokesperson Clement Abiade said the abductees consisted of men, women and children from some communities in Zamfara. A military operation was carried out last week simultaneously with ground troops keeping watch at all exits, which frustrated the bandits, he added. The spokesperson said six persons, who were suspected bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers, were arrested, and some weapons, ammunition and rustled animals were recovered in the operation. Those arrested would be handed over to the police for investigation and prosecution, Abiade said. Rural areas in Zamfara have been prone to attacks by criminal gangs, cattle rustlers and kidnappers, with at least two major attacks reported in December 2018, leaving scores of people dead. In April 2018, the government deployed troops and air force fighter jets in Zamfara to fight the gangs. A recent statement from the military said troops of Operation "Sharan Daji" on Jan. 20 came into contact with "a large gang of bandits armed with sophisticated arms" at Dumburum and Gando forests in Zamfara, killing 58 bandits and destroying 18 camps that had been used by them. Library blues Public libraries are a treasure. We must learn to see them for what they are Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 10:36:31|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert withdrew herself from consideration for the nomination of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN), the department said in a statement on Saturday. President Donald Trump will make an announcement on the issue "soon," the statement said. Nauert explained in the statement that her decision to withdraw was due to family reasons, saying "the past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration." Nauert, a 48-year-old former FOX News presenter, joined the State Department as spokesperson in April 2017. Trump nominated Nauert as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations last December to replace Nikki Haley, who left her post at the end of 2018. However, picking Nauert to represent the United States in the international arena is seen as an unusual choice for Trump. Many Democrats and experts questioned her qualifications, given the former news presenter had limited political or foreign policy experience before joining the State Department. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 10:36:30|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close SYDNEY, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- A surfer was airlifted to hospital in a serious condition after being bitten by a shark at a popular Australian coastal spot on Sunday. Emergency services were deployed to Byron Bay in northeastern New South Wales state after reports of a shark attacking a 41-year-old man surfing off Belongil Beach early morning, according to a police statement. The victim suffered leg injuries but managed to return to shore on his surfboard, alerting other surfers before state ambulance paramedics treated him at the scene, police said. The affected beach areas were closed for at least 24 hours and authorities are investigating the incident. The latest attack came a month after a girl and a senior woman were bitten by a shark in the Whitsundays tourist area up the coast in Queensland state, in a slew of incidents involving the marine predators which also claimed at least one life late last year and left several others severely injured. State authorities nationwide have since been ramping up measures to prevent the attacks, including placing advanced ocean drum lines to catch, tag, release and relocate the sharks. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 10:23:18|Editor: zh Video Player Close A worker makes an ice cream during the Chocolate Festival in Athens, Greece, Feb. 16, 2019. The four-day festival, held from February 14 to 17, involved tasting sessions, workshops and children activities led by experts dedicated to the art of chocolate. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 10:16:26|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close HAVANA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's population decreased by over 11,000 people by the end of 2018, official media reported Saturday citing an expert from the National Statistics Bureau (NSB). Juan Carlos Alfonso, NSB deputy director, confirmed the downward trend that has continued during the past three decades, the daily Granma reported. The number of births slightly increased around 2,000 compared to 2017, but the overall total remains below that of previous years, Alfonso said. At the end of 2018, the Caribbean nation had a population of 11,208,000, the specialist said. In the last 30 years, Cuba has been seriously affected by a low birth rate and migration, which combined with a high life expectancy has led to a fast-aging population. The high education level of Cuban women, the long-time economic crisis, and social factors such as the housing deficit, are among the main factors resulting in the low birth numbers. The situation led the government in 2014 to establish a commission "to stimulate the birth rate and watch for the needs of the increasing number of elders." It has also forced authorities to dedicate more funds from the state budget to social security. It is foreseen that by 2030 these expenses will reach 10 billion U.S. dollars. It would be a heavy burden for the state, since tourism, Cuba's second main source of income, provides only 2.5 billion dollars a year. In 2016, the NSB reported that more than 20 percent of the island's population had surpassed the retirement age, which is 65 for men and 60 for women. According to NSB forecasts, in 2050 Cuba will rank ninth in terms of a population of elders. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 10:16:25|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close NEW YORK, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York's Chinatown celebrated the Spring Festival with an annual family event on Saturday, honoring Chinese family values as well as cultural heritage. As the prime event of the museum's eight-week celebration of the Year of the Pig, the Lunar New Year Family Festival drew dozens of children and their parents who were engaged in a fun-filled day of activities, including a ribbon dance workshop, storytelling, zodiac face painting and a concert featuring traditional Chinese instruments. Most of the children who attended the Spring Festival event were Chinese born in the United States. Parents hoped their children could find more connections with their ancestral home by attending cultural educational programs in the museum. A major exhibition in the museum told the story of the earliest Chinese immigrants to the United States, who made great efforts to win greater civil rights in a society marked by bias and discrimination. In front of a rusty laundry press, Wong, who only gave her last name for the interview, explained to her little daughter how the old machine worked. Running a laundry used to be the major way to make a living for Chinese Americans during the 19th and early 20th centuries. "I want her to learn more about the Chinese culture, and where her roots came from ... and to understand more about the hardship the past generations (of Chinese Americans) have endured," said Wong. A lion dance was performed by the Columbia University Lion Dance Troupe as the highlight of the day just outside the museum. Two lions, a red one and a blue one, wandered through a crowd of spectators, amusing them by blinking their large eyes and shaking their fluffy heads. Such dances are believed to usher in a year of good luck and fortune, according to the Chinese tradition. Founded in 1980, MOCA aims at preserving and presenting the history, heritage, culture and diverse experiences of people of Chinese descent in the United States. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 09:41:19|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Police and experts are investigating a Friday night gun attack at a bar in Mexico's famed Caribbean resort of Cancun that left five people dead and five injured, a local prosecutor said Saturday. According to preliminary investigations, four individuals opened fire with long shotguns and pistols on customers in the men's nightclub "La Kuka," located on the central avenue of Lopez Portillo, said a statement issued by the Quintana Roo prosecutor. Investigators are gathering information from three people whom officials took to the prosecutor's office following the attack. An image published by local media shows several injured men lying on the club's floor amid overturned tables and chairs. The club is located in central Cancun, some 13 km from the hotel zone and the tourist resort's beaches. In the past few years, Cancun, Mexico's main tourist destination, has registered a large number of violent incidents, which the Quintana Roo government has attributed to criminal groups fighting to control illegal drugs. On Tuesday, the governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquin, announced a new strategy supported by more technology and improved policing to combat crime in the area. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 09:26:15|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Medical conditions in China's poorest regions are improving with the help of targeted medical assistance to hospitals in these regions. More than 400 hospitals in such regions have been upgraded to higher levels, and over 30 hospitals of this kind can now provide medical services comparable to that of top hospitals, according to the National Health Commission (NHC) in a press release. Once, the people and medical workers in these places were deeply troubled by the shortage of medicine, personnel and equipment. Now, medical workers in hospitals such as Kashgar Prefecture Second People's Hospital in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are witnessing the improvement of their hospital's condition. "The hospital is now top-notch, with cutting-edge emergency treatment methods for heart diseases, " said a senior physician of the hospital, which received targeted assistance from top hospitals in Shanghai Municipality. Since 2016, 963 top hospitals have paired with 1,180 hospitals in 834 impoverished counties to offer similar targeted assistance, the NHC figures show. Benefitting from the assistance, today, 90 percent of patients suffering from severe or acute diseases in Xinjiang can be successfully treated. Targeted assistance from top hospitals has also brought advanced hospital management methods to impoverished regions. With their help, many hospitals in such regions are setting up departments to treat more kinds of illnesses and cultivating young medical talents. To further promote poverty alleviation work in the medical sector, the targeted medical assistance must be carried out more accurately, said Ma Weihang, an official with the Zhejiang Province's Health Commission. "In some places, compared to advanced medical technology, the people need more practical therapies that can address their problems, " said Ma, adding that medical assistance should cope with the target region's medical situation. "The NHC will step up efforts in rolling out more accurate and detailed medical assistance plans, and further improve the medical condition in impoverished areas by utilizing telemedicine technology, " said Jiao Yahui, deputy director of the Medical Administration Bureau under the NHC. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 09:21:13|Editor: zh Video Player Close MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China hopes that the United States and Russia will return to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a senior Chinese official said here Saturday. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks after delivering a keynote speech at the 55th Munich Security Conference. Yang said that China firmly advocates maintaining global strategic stability. The unilateral declaration by the United States to withdraw from the INF Treaty has serious consequences, and has drawn widespread concern from the international community, he said. China hopes that the United States and Russia can get back to the INF Treaty and is opposed to the multilateralization of the treaty, Yang said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 07:44:14|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Visitors join a parade of the 23rd National Multicultural Festival in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 16, 2019. The 2019 National Multicultural Festival parade commenced on Saturday afternoon at the center of Australia's capital Canberra. Over 2,000 performers from a range of cultural groups displayed their diverse culture with beautiful dancers, marching bands and magnificent floats, enveloping the streets with spectacular color and sound. Thousands of people flocked to the streets to witness. (Xinhua/Pan Xiangyue) Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 07:34:03|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close Folk artist Yu Shuxi (C), 99, comes to the artist center established by Zhang Mantang in Majie Village of Baofeng County in Pingdingshan, central China's Henan Province, Feb. 16, 2019. Each year after Spring Festival, Majie village in central China's Henan Province is visited by folk artists from across the country. The folk art fair there has lasted for 700 years. The event is said to originate from a prestigious folk artist in the village, whose many disciples gathered to celebrate his birthday in 1316. The birthday celebration later evolved into a folk art fair. Chinese folk art, or Quyi, has many forms, including ballad singing, story telling and cross talk, etc. The Quyi fair presents an opportunity for the audience to establish contact with their favorite artists and pay them to perform. Majie village has about 5,000 residents, but it hosts more than a thousand folk artists every year. Many villagers volunteer to provide free food and lodgings for artists during the fair. The 66-year-old Zhang Mantang, a businessman, returned to Majie in 2004 when the fair was losing popularity. In 2006 he built 12 rooms, and bought bunk beds and cushions to host the guests. Over the years, Zhang has spent hundreds of thousands of yuan protecting the arts. In 2006, the Majie Quyi Fair was inscribed on the first national intangible cultural heritage list. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) Kulekhani-3 project misses deadline for sixth time The much awaited Kulekhani-3 Hydropower Project has again missed its completion deadline of January 2019 due to the dillydallying by a Chinese contractor hired for the job. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 07:20:55|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- An attack by armed gunmen at a bar in Mexico's famed Caribbean resort of Cancun left at least five dead and several injured, local prosecutor told Xinhua on Saturday. Local media reported that the gunmen opened fire on a group of people after bursting into the club "La Kuka" at 11:30 p.m. Friday. Witnesses told police that three to five individuals fled the scene in a car. The scene of the shooting is located some 13 kilometers from the tourist resort's hotel zone. The local prosecutor said the authorities were seeking information on the attack. In the past few years, Cancun, Mexico's main tourist destination, has registered numerous violent incidents, which the Quintana Roo government has attributed to criminal groups fighting to control illegal drugs. On Tuesday, the governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquin, announced a new strategy supported by more technology and improved policing to counter the insecurity in the area. Guests visit an exhibition on China's peacekeeping input at the UN headquarters in New York, Feb. 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's peacekeeping efforts have been hailed by UN officials and military personnel at a UN headquarters exhibition depicting Chinese soldiers' service and devotion. With the theme "CPLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army): A Force for World Peace," the exhibition displays four sections of pictures, featuring Chinese military's participation in UN peacekeeping missions, securing maritime passages, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, as well as exchanges and cooperation. "An impressive exhibition of a country that is a major force in support of UN peacekeeping and, indeed, multilateralism," UN Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support Atul Khare wrote on the guest book. Since 1990, the CPLA has participated in 24 peacekeeping operations, dispatching more than 39,000 peacekeeping military personnel, data from the exhibition show. It has also listed all the 13 Chinese peacekeepers that died in the front line of operations. The latest death occurred in July 2016 in South Sudan. File Photo: Medical members of the Chinese peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) salute during the raising ceremony of Chinese national flag at their barrack in Bukavu of DRC March 8, 2009. (Xinhua/Wu Guoqiang) Currently, China deploys a total of 2,508 uniformed personnel, including 70 women, to eight of the UN peacekeeping missions, including those in South Sudan, Lebanon, and the mostly deadly Mali, according to Khare. In his remarks to the launch of the exhibition, the under-secretary-general spoke highly of China's role in UN peacekeeping, noting China is the 10th largest contributor of uniformed personnel and the second largest financial contributor to peacekeeping budget. In 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. While watching the show, UN Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations Carlos Humberto Loitey told Xinhua that China's contribution to the UN peacekeeping is worth "highlighting," with "good quality" of peacekeepers and "outstanding support in terms of training." Hugh Van Roosen, deputy military advisor at UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, told Xinhua that a total of 124 countries participated in the UN peacekeeping operations and the "the effort China has put forward, in particular in missions like in South Sudan, is certainly, absolutely integral to the success of these missions." Training, leadership, mindset -- Roosen said China has been leading in many "areas of concern" and has brought good experience into the missions. Echoing this remark, "I have had the opportunity to be trained by CPLA and I discovered these very professional personnel in South Sudan in 2008," a visitor from the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operation wrote in the guest book. On anti-pirate operations, in one picture of the show, the Chinese navy convoy fleet rescued a Tuvalu cargo ship in April 2017; in another, some rescued crew were waving a Chinese national flag. The exhibition reveals since December 2008, the Chinese Navy has regularly deployed three to four vessels in the Gulf of Aden to carry out escort missions. In addition, the CPLA's efforts in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance are displayed in the show. The pictures have shown the CPLA's aid for various disasters including Haiti earthquake in 2010 and Ebola epidemic in West Africa. File Photo: People wave flags to welcome Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Nov. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Hao Yunfu) The hospital ship "The Peace Ark" was highlighted in the exhibition, with pictures showing its medical staff treating local patients and playing games with them. In the past 10 years, the hospital ship the Chinese navy has visited 43 countries to provide medical services, benefiting more than 230,000 people, according to the exhibition. Launched on Feb. 11, the 12-day exhibition is co-hosted by the Political Work Department of China's Central Military Commission and Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Mao Naiguo, head of the CPLA delegation for international communication, expressed his hope that visitors of the show would know better about the CPLA's aspiration for peace and the responsibility they shoulder for achieving it. As Mao put forward at the launching ceremony, "China walks on the path of justice and peace. It has always been a 'positive energy and warm strength' promoting respect for life and pursuit for security." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 03:50:09|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close CHICAGO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) crop futures closed mixed in the trading week ending on Feb. 15, with wheat and soybeans suffering notable losses due to massive fund selling. On Thursday alone, CBOT brokers reported that funds sold 11,000 contracts of wheat, 7,000 contracts of corn, and 8,000 contracts of soybeans. The massive selling was triggered by a weekly export sales report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The data covered the period from Dec. 28, 2018 to Jan. 3, 2019. The report was released on Thursday, well behind schedule, due to the record-long partial government shutdown. In the report, the USDA confirmed net wheat sales of 131,200 metric tons for 2018/2019 marketing year, down 78 percent from the previous week and 76 percent from the prior four-week average. Profit taking after four consecutive sessions of rise in wheat prices also contributed to the massive selling, said market watchers. CBOT wheat prices have fallen to a two-month low this week, under the pressure of foreign competition, said analysts. The United States sells one third of its wheat to foreign buyers, but despite some highlighted sales to Egypt and Nigeria recently, the export pace has been relatively slow. The biggest competition is believed to be from Russia and Ukraine. French exporters were also awarded the bulk of a recent Algerian tender. With a strong U.S. dollar, it would be difficult for U.S. crops to beat other cheap wheat supplies. Not only U.S. wheat, European wheat futures traded in Paris also posted losses this week. In the same weekly report, the USDA announced net sales reductions of 612,000 metric tons of soybeans, compared with the previous week. However, CBOT soybeans did not fall as much as the wheat, thanks to the progress made during the latest U.S.-China trade talks. China and the United States held the sixth round of high-level economic and trade consultations in Beijing from Thursday to Friday. The two sides reached consensus in principle on major issues and had specific discussions about a memorandum of understanding on bilateral economic and trade issues. Consultations will be continued in Washington next week. The trade talk progress supported CBOT soybeans, as China has been the top importer of U.S. soybeans. CBOT corn futures ended this week almost unchanged. The most active corn for March delivery was up 0.5 cent, or 0.13 percent weekly, to settle at 3.7475 dollars per bushel. March wheat was down 13 cents, or 2.51 percent, to close at 5.0425 dollars. March soybeans were down 7 cents, or 0.77 percent, to settle at 9.075 dollar per bushel. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 02:55:00|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) meets with Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, during the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi said here on Saturday that China and Germany should maintain strategic resolve and the steady and healthy development of bilateral relations in the face of today's complicated world. Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks when meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel here on the sideline of the ongoing 55th Munich Security Conference. Yang said China and Germany should expand their common interests through complementing each other. Yang, who delivered a keynote speech on Saturday at the three-day Munich Security Conference, said China welcomes the active participation of Germany in the international cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and will continue to provide a fair and transparent investment environment for all foreign enterprises, including those from Germany. Yang expressed the hope that the German side will also continue to provide a fair policy environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Germany. On her part, Merkel said that Germany and China are comprehensive strategic partners who enjoy frequent high-level exchanges, fruitful results of friendly cooperation in various fields and close coordination on international affairs. She said the German side has taken a positive approach towards international cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and is willing to strengthen communications and cooperation with China, and promote the interests of enterprises and peoples of both countries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 02:34:56|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Rescuers work at the site where a university building partially collapsed in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Feb. 16, 2019. No victims were reported to be trapped under the rubble after the university building partially collapsed on Saturday, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. (Xinhua/Irina Motina) MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- No victims were reported to be trapped under the rubble after a university building in the Russian city of St. Petersburg partially collapsed on Saturday, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. "According to prior reports, there is no one under the rubble," a spokesperson for the ministry was quoted by Tass news agency as saying. As many as 86 people have been evacuated from the scene so far, the local emergencies service said. Earlier reports said that at least 60 people had been evacuated and 21 people could be trapped under rubble. The five-story building which was under repair collapsed from the fifth to second floor, according to the emergencies ministry. Investigators have reportedly initiated a criminal case into possible violations of safety rules. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:23:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Pyongyang residents pay tribute to the statues of late leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, DPRK, on Feb. 16, 2019, the Day of the Shining Star. Tens of thousands of Pyongyang residents paid tribute to the statues of late leaders of the DPRK Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Saturday, the Day of the Shining Star. A floral basket sent by top leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un was seen at the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill on the day set to commemorate Kim Jong Il's birthday. Visitors placed blooms and flower baskets before the figures, lined up and bowed deeply to the statues to show their respect. (Xinhua/Cheng Dayu) PYONGYANG, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Pyongyang residents paid tribute to the statues of late leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Saturday, the Day of the Shining Star. A floral basket sent by top leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un was seen at the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill on the day set to commemorate Kim Jong Il's birthday. Visitors placed blooms and flower baskets before the figures, lined up and bowed deeply to the statues to show their respect. "We often come here to pay tribute to our great leaders as we regard them as our parents. We could not have lived a peaceful life without our great leaders," a visitor calling himself Pak said. Local people also visited the week-long Kimjongilia flower exhibition that opened Thursday at the Kimilsungia-Kimjongilia Exhibition Hall as a way to commemorate their late leaders. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Police say 9-year-old Jayden McMahill has been found safe and sound. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Police are searching for a missing 9-year-old boy last seen Saturday in Tallahassee. The Tallahassee Police Department's Special Victims Unit is seeking information on the location of Jayden McMahill. They say McMahill was last seen Saturday in the 200 block of Wilson Green Blvd. McMahill is described as being 3-foot-6 inches tall and weighs about 59 pounds. Police say he was last seen wearing a red shirt, dark blue pants with vertical red and white stripes and red shoes. Anyone with information about McMahill is asked to call the Tallahassee Police Department at 850-891-4200. Health Board invite residents to join its celebration of mental health nursing This article is old - Published: Sunday, Feb 17th, 2019 Residents on North East Wales are being invited to share feedback on how mental health nurses have touched their lives, ahead of the first ever national celebration of the profession. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is inviting people to share their messages of thanks, ahead of Mental Health Nurses Day on February 21st. Submissions through social media, email or post are invited, which will be shared with mental health nursing staff working in community and inpatient services in Wrexham and Flintshire. Steve Forsyth, BCUHBs Director of Nursing for Mental Health & Learning Disabilities, who is himself an experienced mental health nurse, said the inaugural event would provide a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the role of mental health nurses across the region. He said: It takes a very special sort of person to be a mental health nurse, and the contribution they make in caring for people and their families cannot be underestimated. We have over 700 mental health nurses working in our hospitals and community services, and I am proud of each and every one of them for the fantastic care they provide. There are a number of ways that people can tell us when we dont get things right, but its also important to celebrate the huge positive impact that our mental health nurses and healthcare assistants make for people in our community when they need it the most. Thats why were giving people an opportunity to get in touch directly to let them know how much their hard work and care is appreciated. Were inviting anyone who wants to send a message to our staff, whether an individual, team or even an entire ward or service, to please get in touch via email, Facebook, Twitter, or by post. The Royal College of Nursings Mental Health Nursing Day is partly a response to a drop in mental health nursing staff in the UK. According to statistics from the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the number of mental health nurses fell from 90,693 to 88,821 between 2014 and 2018. Its a picture that is also reflected in North Wales, where recruitment remains a key challenge. Ed Freshwater, a mental health nurse who chairs the Royal College of Nursings Mental Health Forum, said: A lot of people say they dont know what the job involves and dont hear enough positive stories about the specialty. It is a very broad profession. The people who tend to do well have got really good people skills and really rich, diverse life experiences. Theyre people who have seen something in the world and would like to make a positive change. Youve got to be interested in other people. Its not the kind of thing where you just turn up, put in the hours and go home. You have to invest an element of yourself into the role. People are invited to send in feedback by email, via social media or by post. Email bcu.getinvolved@wales.nhs.uk Send a private message through BCUHBs Facebook page: www.facebook.com/bcuhealthboard or Tweet @BCUHB using the hashtags #NWalesMHNurses and #MHNursesDay Write to BCU Proud, Block 5 Carlton Court, St Asaph Business Park, St Asaph, LL17 0JG Graduates career in arts and business boosted by placement with leading theatre This article is old - Published: Sunday, Feb 17th, 2019 A graduate from Wrexham Glyndwr University is gaining valuable experience at one of North Wales most renowned theatres thanks to a programme linking the arts and business. Megan Stokes, from Monmouth, graduated from Wrexham Glyndwr University with a degree in Illustration, Graphic Novels and Childrens Publishing in November. By the time of her graduation ceremony, she had already begun working at Theatr Clwyd in Mold, with the support of Arts and Business Cymru, an organisation which links businesses and the arts and which works closely alongside universities such as Glyndwr. Megan discovered the placement, and the work of Arts and Business Cymru, at Glyndwrs Creative Futures event a week-long conference which brings together leading creative industry practioners and students to promote careers in the creative arts. She said: I first heard about the placement at the Creative Futures week which the university holds each year. During the week, Arts and Business Cymru came and gave a talk and that raised my interest in what they do. You can only apply for their posts through universities which participate in the scheme and Glyndwr is one. Having been impressed with what she heard at Creative Futures, Megan applied and was successful at securing her placement with Theatr Clwyd. She returned to the university last week alongside staff from Arts and Business Cymru to talk about the benefits of the scheme and how it has boosted her confidence and developed her skills. She said: I would definitely encourage others to look into applying its all about learning new things and being in a new environment and those skills you learn are very transferable too. I did an illustration degree but the reason I was interested in this job was that I was working in the arts, but in a different area to my degree. It has those links, but the work is so different. However, it was very important to me that I was still working in the creative arts. Thanks to the Arts and Business placement, Megan is hoping to extend her work in the theatre world though the skills she learnt as a designer at Glyndwr have also picked up wider interest. She said: I really liked my course you really felt like you were being supported with your work all the time you were there. I also had a lot of support from the careers department, who helped me to develop my CV. You also get to speak to a lot of businesses about your work, and are given guidance in how to set up your own business that was really good! I spoke with Sainsburys Home at New Designers, an exhibition which helps you get out there and get your work noticed. After the event, ten out of 3,000 exhibitors were talent spotted, and I ended up having an interview with them about my work for a design post I didnt get that post but they were really interested in me staying in contact with them so we will see what happens there! After the placement with Theatr Clwyd finishes, there may be a possibility of continuing here as well. No matter what happens after the internship, I am really glad I took up this amazing opportunity and Ill be encouraging students who want a creative industries job to speak to Arts and Business Cymru. A spokesman for Arts & Business Cymru said: Our Creative Internships Programme is in its 6th year and focuses on developing the next generation of arts fundraisers. Wales has, for some time, suffered from a lack of skilled professionals in this crucial field. The need to ensure a funding mix is crucial to survival and arts organisations across the country now recognise that investing resources into this area is the only way to ensure sustainability. However, the number of professional fundraisers in Wales cannot begin to keep up with the demand for such services. The only way to increase this vital pool of professionals is to find a way to attract new graduates into a career in fundraising and this is where the programme comes in. Megan really impressed us in her interview and has gone on to prove herself in the Development Team at Theatr Clwyd where she has fitted in extremely well. She is making the most every opportunity and we can already see she has the potential for a successful career in fundraising ahead of her. Daniel Porter-Jones, Director of Development at Theatr Clwyd and Megans Manager and Arts Mentor, added: Theatr Clwyd has been a first time beneficiary of the programme in 2018/19. We have already enjoyed significant benefit from the additional resource but more importantly we have a wonderful, energised and talented new member of the Theatr Clwyd team. These internships not only offer graduates a full-time position which is challenging enough in these times, but they offer a unique insight in to the professional world of arts, culture and fundraising which is invaluable to a young person just starting out on their career. For further information on applying to the Creative Internship Programme, please see the A&B Cymru website. Blueprint for around 8,000 new homes in Wrexham based on outdated figures This article is old - Published: Sunday, Feb 17th, 2019 Wrexham Council has been urged to revisit a blueprint suggesting sites for around 8,000 new homes amid claims the figures are outdated. In November a majority of councillors backed the submission of the countys Local Development Plan (LDP) to an independent inspector despite concerns about the scale of development. A Plaid Cymru politician is now calling on the local authority to reconsider after new Welsh Government guidelines drastically reduced the expected amount of extra housing in North Wales in the next 20 years. Regional guidelines published this week show a central estimate of around 1,600 homes will be needed across the six counties each year for the next five years, which will later reduce to 400. It compares to an annual average of more than 500 homes outlined yearly for Wrexham alone in its LDP. North Wales AM Llyr Gruffydd said he had questioned the previous population projections since he was elected in 2011 and is now challenging the need to build on green barrier sites. He said: In its draft LDP Wrexham Council claims it needs to build 517 new houses a year to meet demand. The new projections show that, across all six counties in the North, were looking at an average of 400 by the 2030s. Despite this, planning officers are still using the old projections to justify their claims. Were in danger of being bounced into making decisions based on outdated figures. The draft LDP was submitted despite strong opposition in several communities and claims the blueprint was fundamentally flawed. Most of the issues raised centred around the amount of homes proposed, as well as the potential location of three gypsy and traveller sites in Brymbo, Hanmer and Llay. However, council leader Mark Pritchard urged politicians to back moving the plan forward. He told them it was the only way for people in Wrexham to maintain influence over the proposals. Wrexham Council has been asked to comment on the new Welsh Government housing need figures, but had not responded at the time of publication. By Liam Randall BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme). India digs trench near no-mans-land in Kailali district The Indian border security force, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), has dug a trench near the no-mans-land between Nepal and India, at Shivaratnapur area in Kailari Rural Municipality-3, Kailali. Opinion: Put 'Public' Back in 'Public Education' By Jim Waters LEXINGTON - Critics jumping at opportunities to stamp an "anti-public education" label on school choice supporters also unwittingly advocate for something different from a truly public education by defending Kentucky's antiquated School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) approach as the holy grail of school governance. Actually, we could have a debate around this question: Are Kentucky's SBDM-governed schools really "public?" Education Week recently carried an article by University of Cincinnati professor Sarah Stitzlein listing "five responsibilities schools must meet to truly be called 'public.'" Her third criterion: "They should be responsive to the public, enabling community members to vote out officials or change school policies through meaningful and viable avenues like elections, referendums, and open school meetings." Kentucky's SBDM policy clearly violates the professor's third standard by denying citizens the ability to vote out their school's officials, change school policies or even have convenient access to council meetings. Rank-and-file citizens have no say in the membership of SBDM councils, as current law requires that a majority of the bodies be comprised of teachers. Since parents have only a minority voice, the councils have complete control over crucial areas of curriculum, school staffing and how tax dollars get spent. Thus, House members really interested in putting the "public" back in public schools should closely consider reforms included in Senate Bill 3 passed by the Kentucky Senate on the fourth day of this year's legislative session which primary sponsor Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, has worked on for four years. SB 3 returns "public" to public schools by: Re-empowering superintendents to make final decisions regarding the hiring of principals. Allowing parents, principals and superintendents a process by which to appeal SBDM decisions to the locally elected school board. These policies fix significant problems that have troubled educators and some lawmakers from the beginning days of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), which created the SBDM approach. One troubling revelation is that very liberal politicians who held a solid political majority in the legislature when KERA passed in 1990 "were discussing eliminating school boards entirely," according to new Northern Kentucky Rep. Ed Massey, who served 21 years on the Boone County Schools board and is a past president of both the state and national school boards associations. "Part of that compromise was that they did the site-based councils," Massey, R-Hebron, added in his comments before the legislature's interim Joint Education Committee in August 2017. Yet, as Massey noted, it's the elected board not SBDM councils who ultimately are responsible to taxpayers. How can any conscientious educator advocating for a truly public education system support SBDM councils, which usurp the authority of superintendents and school boards and keep parents in the minority? Even Lucy Waterbury from Save Our Schools, a generally SBDM-supportive group, indicated at the interim education committee's meeting in November: "We need an equalization of parents." Some legislators apparently are concerned that reforming SBDM policy would encourage the return of the good ol' days of nepotism, where superintendents awarded plum positions to family members and friends. Public control of education, however, isn't achieved by weakening a locally elected board's authority or limiting parents' voices. Rather, true public education occurs by giving locally elected boards proper authority and voters holding board members accountable at the ballot box. Right now, school accountability is largely a mirage in Kentucky. Local boards and their chosen school expert, the superintendent, can only sit back and fume when SBDM councils make bad decisions about curriculum, school staffing and spending. This undemocratic situation means voters really can't hold board members accountable. The current SBDM approach essentially disenfranchises parents, citizens and taxpayers, who only get to pay, but really have no say. That, even Professor Stitzlein would have to agree, is not "public education." Wingo Man Arrested After Fleeing Deputies By West Kentucky Star Staff GRAVES COUNTY - A Wingo man wanted on methamphetamine charges has been arrested. According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, 42-year-old Chad Bradley was wanted on an outstanding warrant for trafficking in meth and other drug-related charges. Deputies went to Bradley's home Saturday morning to arrest him, but he broke free from a detective and fled on foot. Bradley disappeared near several buildings in downtown Wingo. Kentucky State Police responded to assist deputies in searching for Bradley. Less than three hours later, Bradley was located in Wingo and detained without incident. Bradley was arrested and charged with 1st degree escape and 1st degree fleeing and evading. Mayfield Man Arrested on Child Porn Charges By West Kentucky Star Staff JEFFERSON COUNTY, IL - A Mayfield man is facing child porn charges in Illinois. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, detectives arrested 40-year-old Ray Crawford Friday night on charges of distribution and possession of child pornography. Deputies say the arrest was the result of a joint investigation by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Ina Police Department, beginning on Feb. 9. Crawford is being held in the Jefferson County Jail. KY State Police Post 1 Welcomes New Troopers By West Kentucky Star Staff HICKORY - Kentucky State Police Post 1 welcomes three new troopers.Trooper Justin Fox from Scottsville, KY., Trooper James Stewart, from Steele, MO., and Trooper Austin Ramage, from Mayfield, KY., who were among the thirty-five cadets to graduate the twenty-five week training academy in Frankfort on Friday, February 1, 2019. With the addition of these three Troopers, Post 1 has twenty road Troopers, and seven general investigators. The new troopers will spend eight to twelve weeks with a supervised field training officer before working their assigned county. Two troopers will be assigned to Post 1s western squad, which includes the counties of Fulton, Hickman, Carlisle, Ballard, Calloway and Graves. One trooper will be assigned to the eastern squad which includes the counties of Livingston, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, and Trigg. KSP is now continually accepting applications. For more information, visit the Kentucky State Police Recruitment website at http://kentuckystatepolice.org/recruitment/ . Essayist Haskell Comes to MSU Thursday By MSU Public Relations "David Haskell is a rising star in literary environmental writing," says Carrie Jerrell, creative writing professor at Murray State. "His work includes all the rigorous research that one would expect from a scientist, but he has a poet's ear for language. Both of his essay collections, The Forest Unseen and The Songs of Trees, are beautiful, lyrical, and compelling. He's also a gifted, award-winning teacher, and we're so pleased he's part of our reading series this year." Haskell is the author of The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors (Viking, 2017), which examines the many ways that trees and humans are connected. The book was winner of the 2018 John Burroughs Medal, named one of the Best Science Books of 2017 by NPR's Science Friday, selected as Favorite Science Books of 2017 by Brain Pickings, and in the 10 Best Environment, Climate Science and Conservation Books of 2017 at Forbes.com. His first book, The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature (Viking, 2012), was winner of the National Academies' Best Book Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, among other honors. Haskell earned his BA from the University of Oxford and his PhD from Cornell University before joining the faculty of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, as a Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies. He is also a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, and an Elective Member of the American Ornithologists' Union. His scientific research on animal ecology, evolution, and conservation has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the World Wildlife Fund, among others. He serves on the boards and advisory committees of local and national land conservation groups. Haskell's classes have received national attention for the innovative ways they combine action in the community with contemplative practice. In 2009, the Carnegie and CASE Foundations named him Professor of the Year for Tennessee, an award given to college professors who have achieved national distinction and whose work shows "extraordinary dedication to undergraduate teaching." The Oxford American has also featured him as one of the southern U.S.'s most creative teachers. His teaching has been profiled in USA Today, The Tennessean, and other newspapers. MURRAY - The Department of English and Philosophy at Murray State University will host its next Reading Series event on Thursday, February 21, at 4:30 p.m. with a reading from biologist and essayist David George Haskell. The reading will be held in the Waterfield Library Gallery on the Murray State campus and is free and open to the public. Legislative Update from Rep. Randy Bridges By West Kentucky Star Staff PADUCAH - The pace picked up during week three of the 2019 General Assembly, with legislation clearing committees and passing the full House. As we left Frankfort on Friday, we are almost halfway through with this years session. Wednesday, February 20 is the last day that lawmakers can file new legislations, but already more than more than 800 bills and resolutions have been filed for consideration in both the House and Senate. Removing a barrier for physicians to treat opioid addiction with a proven strategy is the goal of one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the House this session. The bill, HB 121, passed unanimously and would prevent insurance companies from requiring prior authorization for medication-assisted addiction treatments. Currently, someone struggling with an addiction must wait five to ten days before they can begin a medication-assisted treatment so that insurance companies can approve coverage. If passed by the Senate, HB 121 would remove the requirement of prior authorization and speed up the necessary treatment. I also joined my fellow members of the House in approving HB 22. This piece of legislation changes the way that school board vacancies are filled. Currently, the Education Commissioner fills the vacancy, and this bill would transfer that power to the rest of the local school board, who would vote to fill the empty slot. The Kentucky School Boards Association testified in support of the measure, which would also shorten the amount of time given to fill the vacancy from 90 to 60 days. Legislative committees continued to meet this week, sending legislation to the full House for consideration. Members of the House Health and Family Services Committee approved HB 64, otherwise known as Kevins Law. This measure would allow a pharmacist to dispense a 30-day supply of medication - including lifesaving medicines like insulin and inhalers in emergency situations. Current law allows pharmacists to dispense a 72-hour supply, which is often not long enough to ensure proper supply and use. The House Education Committee approved HB 118, also called the Keep Americans Working Act of 2019. If passed into law, this commonsense measure would prohibit someone from having their occupational license suspended or revoked because they are delinquent on a student loan or work-related scholarship. The last thing an individual struggling to pay back their loans needs is for their mechanism to earn a living to be stripped. Pulling out the rug from underneath a working individual is the opposite of what we should be doing, as incentivizing work should be and is a top priority of ours. The House Agriculture Committee approved a hemp measure aimed at addressing issues brought to us by the farmers and marketers. The first, House Concurrent Resolution 43, addresses concerns that online marketplaces and social media sites are limiting access to sell legal hemp products. The hemp industry has exploded in our state, we went from having only 32 acres of hemp five years ago to having 6,700 acres planted in 2018. However, the actions of popular online marketing sites like Facebook are handicapping this growing industry. We are continuing to work on legislation to fine tune some of the tax reforms made during the 2018 session, as well as to clarify issues with misinterpretation by the Department of Revenue. I expect that we will be passing legislation to deal with these before we adjourn this session. House and Senate members on the bipartisan Pension Review Panel have continued to meet on the pension issue, I hope to have more to share on that issue in the next few days. Over the next few weeks I will continue to update you on our progress. In the meantime, I can be reached here at home anytime, or through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181. If you would like more information, or to e-mail me, please visit the legislature's website www.legislature.ky.gov. Ziman said she knows Martin was called in. She says he might have been speculative of what might happen, since he was already armed with a firearm. She is unsure what was communicated to him beforehand. Several were shot in the room with him, and there was another employee who was shot on another level of the building. Fourth NCP task force faces dissolution With no headway in remaining tasks of the unification process, the fourth powerful task force formed by the ruling Nepal Communist Party is on the verge of dissolution. 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. Register for a FREE account to keep reading! Register now for a FREE account to keep reading. No cost and no credit card required! Access up to 5 articles per month when you register, or get unlimited access to all of our content online starting at $1.99 now! Already registered? Click the log in link below Major landslide sweeps away National Highway 55 25 Jun 2021 | 3:37 PM Darjeeling, Jun 25 (UNI) A section of National Highway 55 was washed away in a major landslide in this district of West Bengal on Friday, disrupting traffic movement A 40 metres stretch of the road at the Gairigaon area near Tindharia was completely damaged by the landslide this morning, however, no casualties have been reported so far, an official said. see more.. Simplilearn Named To Top 20 Online Learning Library Company List For The Fourth Consecutive Year 25 Jun 2021 | 3:17 PM Kolkata, Jun 25 (UNI) Simplilearn, the world's number one Online Bootcamp for digital economy skills training, has been recognised as one of the Top Training Companies for the online learning library sector of the learning and development (L&D) market in 2021 by the prestigious Training Industry, Inc. see more.. VLCC joins hands with AMRI Hospital for COVID-19 Vaccination drive in Kolkata 25 Jun 2021 | 2:46 PM KOLKATA, Jun 25 (UNI) VLCC HealthCare Ltd, one of the leading Beauty & Wellness companies, has announced a free COVID-19 vaccination drive for customers in Kolkata. see more.. DIVOC Health receives import license for GeneDrive Covid Testing Kits in India 25 Jun 2021 | 1:40 PM Kolkata, Jun 25 (UNI) To address the immediate need for high-quality COVID19 tests, DIVOC Health has received an import license from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for Genedrive 96 SARS-CoV-2 testing kits in India. see more.. Endemic sexual violence surging in South Sudan United Nations, Feb 17 (UNI) A surge in sexual violence in South Sudans Unity state targeting victims as young as eight years old, has prompted a call from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, for urgent Government measures to protect victims, and bring perpetrators to justice. Despite the signing of a peace deal between belligerents last September, UN investigators found that at least 175 women and girls have been raped or suffered other sexual and physical violence between September and December 2018. The actual level of violence is likely to be considerably higher, OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told journalists in Geneva on Friday. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Go to form Philippines flag carrier Cebu Pacific is now accepting applications for a new batch of cadet pilots who will be trained to become full-fledged aviators for the airline. Cebu will be recruiting 16 candidates who will undergo a study now, pay later, zero-interest training programme to become full-fledged commercial pilots with guaranteed employment with the airline. The application period for the sixth batch of Cebu Pacific Cadet Pilots will run until February 24. Interested applicants may visit http://www.flyfta.com to apply for the programme. Applications opened from February 15. The Cebu Pacific Cadet Pilot Programme is open to all Filipino citizens who are college graduates and are proficient in English. There are no preferred college degrees, and applicants need only have an average grade of at least 70 per cent or its equivalent in subjects related to Math, Physics and English. The programme entails 52 weeks of integrated flight training, theory and education at Flight Training Adelaide (FTA) in Australia. They will undergo learning modules, train in a flight simulator and then on to an actual aircraft. Successful candidates will receive Diplomas of Aviation for Commercial Pilot License Aeroplane, Instrument Rating, and for Pilot in Command. They will also undergo an additional four weeks of training to obtain a Pilots License under the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines. Cebu cadet-pilots need not worry about expenses related to the flight training, as the airline will shoulder the costs firstincluding a stipend, and amortize the payment for the course while they are employed. The entire programme will be financed by Cebu Pacific, and successful cadet-pilots who enter the CEB corps of pilots will reimburse the cost of the program through salary deduction over a maximum of 10 years at zero-interest. There is no application fee for the program. The application process begins with an online pre-screening. This is followed by an on-site screening for core skills and pilot aptitude tests, among other examinations, where a fee of AU$425.00 (about PHP19,000/AED1332) will be charged. FTA will screen and shortlist all the candidates. Cebu Pacific and FTA will then jointly select the final Cadet Pilots through a final interview and deliberation. Fifty-eight CEB cadet-pilots are currently undergoing training at FTA in Adelaide, Australia. A fifth batch, comprising 16 cadet-pilots, is currently undergoing final briefings, pre-departure training and will depart for FTA in April 2019. The five batches of cadet-pilots were selected from over 30,000 applicants who submitted applications online and went through the testing, screening and interview process. - TradeArabia News Service Sabre Corporation, a leading technology provider to the global travel industry, has appointed Abdul-Razzaq Iyer to lead its Sabre Travel Network Middle East business. Iyer's appointment as the Vice President, STNME, will help drive business growth for both Sabre and its customers in the regions, Sabre said. Since joining Sabre in 2008, Iyer has held various positions in business consulting and sales. Most recently, he has worked as a senior director in the Strategic Business Development team in Sabres Singapore office. Leading a substantial sales organisation, he helped achieve significant growth for Sabre in APAC, working across many diverse markets. In his new role, Iyer will be responsible for increasing Sabres footprint in the Middle East, including high-growth markets such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He will help drive growth for Sabre and its customers in the Middle Easts dynamic and diverse regions and provide unrivalled expertise to Sabres travel agency customers. Abdul-Razzaq has unique experience and success working in our APAC region, which draws many parallels to the Middle East, said Roshan Mendis, chief commercial officer, Sabre Travel Network. He has achieved sustainable growth within a complex region that is made up of many very diverse markets. His global expertise and intricate understanding of the agency community will be an asset to Sabres customers in the Middle East, and will open doors for travel companies in the region. Prior to Sabre, Iyer held positions at BNP and Ernst & Young. His experience spans various regions, having previously worked in the Middle East, Far East and Europe, as well as leading several large-scale global projects. Iyer has a BA in Business Education from Trinity University in Texas, and also studied at Beijing University in China. - TradeArabia News Service European ambassadors briefed on plans to split civil aviation body The Tourism Ministry has informed the ambassadors from different European countries, including the ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Nepal, on the progress of splitting the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal into two entities, which they said was a prerequisite to remove Nepal from the EU air safety list. Bahrain's Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA) has approved the purchase of a fourth Airbus A320 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) and the introduction of new logistics and aviation training programmes as part of its ambitious expansion plans for 2019, said a report. During a Board of Directors meeting chaired by the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications and GAA Chairman, Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, new plans to enhance the academys capacity and efficiency were discussed, said a report in BNA. The additional FFS will help to ease the burden on the academys existing simulators, which are currently operating at 100 per cent capacity in order to meet local and regional training requirements. In addition, a joint training agreement with the European Civil Aviation Authority will increase the number of aviation training programmes offered in 2019, covering aviation safety, airport security, air transport, and airspace control. The minister praised GAA's efforts, noting that enhancing the efficiency of specialised training programmes related to logistics is an important step in the development of the civil aviation sector, and in line with the Kingdoms Vision 2030 goal to increase non-oil revenues. The minister also praised the GAA for expanding its geographic reach, offering services from Bahrain to a client base extending from the Indian sub-continent to Europe. GAA chief executive officer, Captain Dhafer Al-Abbasi, said: The 2019 expansion plans are in line with our strategic objectives to provide the best flight training services and modern training tools, not only in Bahrain but in the entire region. During 2018, GAA trained 6,522 agents consisting of pilots, crew, engineers, security personnel, and other aviation personnel, 92 per cent of whom were trainees from outside Bahrain. Last year, we trained 106 pilots from a European airline and will train a further 100 this year to support the development of its operations. The new addition to our range of simulator models will play a key role in helping us to meet the growing demand. GAA, a subsidiary of Gulf Air Group Holding, offers a comprehensive training programme which includes all the travel arrangements and the associated logistics needed to accommodate the large numbers of international participants. Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has announced plans to launch direct flights to Athens, Greece, starting in June. The carrier will operate four flights a week, on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, from June 5, it said in a statement. Saudia's director general Saleh Bin Nasser Al-Jasser said that the launch of flights to Athens is part of the national carrier's expansion of operations in the international sector, which in 2018 achieved a significant leap of 11 per cent over the previous year. - TradeArabia News Service Scores of government delegations, trade ministers and tens of thousands of food industry professionals have descended in Dubai for the 24th edition of Gulfood, which opened at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) today (February 17). The trade show was opened by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). Touring the mega exhibition, Sheikh Hamdan, accompanied by Helal Saeed Al Marri, director general of Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) and director general of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), was given a snapshot of the latest products from 5,000 local, regional and international exhibitors. Top-level trade missions have converged on Gulfood 2019 from 198 countries to highlight the quality and diversity of their products to feed the regions needs. The Gulfood Global Industry Outlook Report 2019, complied by Euromonitor International, which is officially released at the show, forecasts F&B sales in the Middle East & North Africa (Mena) region will rise from $145.4 billion in 2018 to $171.2 billion by 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.33 per cent. Gulfood has long-established itself as the premier industry forum for F&B specialists to explore lucrative trade deals and launch new market-specific products and solutions in a region that is constantly evolving with demand for food and consumer spending increasing year-on-year, said Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, events and exhibitions at Dubai World Trade Centre. This years show ensures exhibitors will have that crucial face time with existing partners and potential new clients, while a range of immersive new features have been added to enhance the on-show experience. Running until February 21, Gulfood 2019 comes as global consumer spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages climbed $600 billion to reach $7.2 trillion in 2018 - equating to 8.6 per cent of worldwide GDP - according to the Gulfood Global Industry Outlook Report 2019 produced by Euromonitor International, which will be released at the show. And with the Outlook Report predicting Africa and the Middle East will drive global population growth from 7.6 billion in 2018 to 8.5 billion by 2030, the 24th edition of the worlds largest annual food and beverage trade show will welcome the world as Dubai solidifies its strategic position as a trade gateway linking established Western markets with core growth markets of the East. As a tailored platform for F&B specialists from all corners of the globe, Gulfood 2019 will cover more than 1 million sq ft of DWTC exhibition space as over 5,000 local, regional and international exhibitors converge to launch thousands of new-to-market products and solutions to meet emerging trends and shifting consumer choices. the 24th edition of the worlds largest annual food and beverage trade show The trade show was opened by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). Touring the mega exhibition, Sheikh Hamdan, accompanied by Helal Saeed Al Marri, director general of Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) and director general of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), was given a snapshot of the latest products from 5,000 local, regional and international exhibitors. Top-level trade missions have converged on Gulfood 2019 from 198 countries to highlight the quality and diversity of their products to feed the regions needs. The Gulfood Global Industry Outlook Report 2019, complied by Euromonitor International, which is officially released at the show, forecasts F&B sales in the Middle East & North Africa (Mena) region will rise from $145.4 billion in 2018 to $171.2 billion by 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.33 per cent. Gulfood has long-established itself as the premier industry forum for F&B specialists to explore lucrative trade deals and launch new market-specific products and solutions in a region that is constantly evolving with demand for food and consumer spending increasing year-on-year, said Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, events and exhibitions at Dubai World Trade Centre. This years show ensures exhibitors will have that crucial face time with existing partners and potential new clients, while a range of immersive new features have been added to enhance the on-show experience. Running alongside the main exhibition, the new three-day Gulfood Innovation Summit will bring together some the major players in the industry to examine the latest challenges and opportunities in the global F&B landscape. Delegations During five days of frenetic trading and negotiating, top-level participants will be showcasing the latest range of products across the key F&B market sectors, including three first-time country pavilions namely, the European Union, Bulgaria and New Zealand, highlighting Gulfoods far-reaching appeal as the industry platform for trading. Gulfood is the largest annual food and beverage trade fair in the world, said EU Commissioner Phil Hogan. It is only natural for the EU the worlds leading exporter and importer of agri-food products to be so visible here thanks to the presence of its Member States and the EU pavilion. This event is a great opportunity for the business people from the UAE and all over the world to find out more about the EUs excellence in producing authentic and safe food to the highest quality standards. Additionally, new individual country participants include Guatemala, Iraq, Luxembourg, Maldives, Nepal, Norway, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. Capitalising on Dubais strategic position as a re-export hub for the region and beyond, Gulfood 2019 has once again attracted high-calibre participation from North, South, East and West, from the Americas to Australia and further afield. Innovation Summit With a three-decade history of linking global food trade through Dubai, Gulfood 2019 will house a range of interactive features designed to reinforce the shows enabling role in raising the international food industry forum bar. Running alongside the main exhibition, the three-day Gulfood Innovation Summit will see some of the biggest names in the industry, leading thought leaders and major disruptors to examine the latest challenges and opportunities facing the industry in a diverse range of keynote sessions and panel discussions. Tastes of the World meanwhile, will see Michelin-starred chefs and kitchen captains showing off their skills in a range of masterclasses and live cook-offs. Renowned Jordanian TV chef, Manal Al Alem, will be amongst the regional talent shining a light on distinctive dishes and flavours from around the world. As chefs we thrive on sharing our love for food and demonstrating the versatility of the tools and ingredients we work with. Tastes of the World is a unique platform to demonstrate the diversity of cooking to a captive and engaged audience, said Chef Manal, who is known as the Queen of the Arabian Kitchen. Im really excited to be joining such an illustrious line-up of chefs bringing global tastes to Gulfood - it is an honour to put Arabian cuisine in the spotlight. Gulfood 2019 is a trade event open strictly to business and trade visitors. The show is open 11 am-7 pm from February 17 20 and 11 am -5 pm on February 21. - TradeArabia News Service An array of international speakers will share their expertise, engage and exchange knowledge with the bright minds of Bahrain at the third annual Falak Unreasonable Thinking Summit 2019 next month. Scheduled for March 3 and 4, the summit will be held at ART Rotana Amwaj under the auspices of Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa AlKhalifa, Minister of Oil. Supported by Tamkeen, EDB (Startup Bahrain), GPIC, Penninsula Farms, Kuwait Finance House, Khaleeji Commercial Bank, Banagas and Bapco, the two-day summit will host experts from a wide range of industries to enrich the experience of participants and help them shape a better future for Bahrain. These speakers include: Cem Tarek, managing director, Unilever Middle East UAE; John Sanei, author and strategist - South Africa; Dr Shashi Tharoor, politician India; Dr Samer Aljishi, president of BFG International Bahrain; Lucia Valencia Dongo, social entreprenuer Peru; Victor Ochen, creator of African Youth Initiative Network and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee Uganda; and Kazuhide Sekiyama, founder of Spiber Japan. We live in a very dynamic world that is constantly affecting the needs and requirements of people (the end users). Over the past decades, the world has witnessed the birth of giant successful businesses that started as a simple innovative idea implemented with passion and creativity; it also saw the dissolution of giant companies that underestimated the importance of innovation and exploration in services and products development, said Falak Consulting founder and CEO Suhail Algosaibi. As a responsible Bahraini business, we feel the need to leverage our connections locally, regionally and internationally and bring home some of the worlds most innovative minds to share their pioneering ideas and know-how with our innovation enthusiasts in Bahrain. Algosaibi added: Since its inception in 2017, we have kept our promise of making the summits registration and participation free for everyone, with the aim of enabling more people to benefit from the expertise and information available year-on-year. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all interested people that the registration doors are still open, however seats are limited and will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. The first two editions of Falak Unreasonable Thinking Summit have witnessed the particitpation of a wide spectrum of attendees including startup entrepreneurs, corporate executives, government officials, CEOs, university and high school students. - TradeArabia News Service Saudi-based Al Abdul Karim Holding (AKH) company has announced the opening of its new headquarters in the Dammam region of the kingdom. Designed as an intelligent building by Dewan Architects + Engineers, the tower is equipped with a state-of-the-art telecommunication system, a CCTV system, access control system, energy-saving system, computer-based building management system (BMS), a sophisticated data centre and an advanced audiovisual system for the conference rooms. The tower also has its own back-up standby electricity generator and a built-in uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Ample car parking is available in the basement and across seven levels of the podium, said the statement from AKH. Work on the 37-storey building, which ranks as the tallest in Dammam and the 30th in the kingdom, was supervised by Dewan Architects + Engineers. Setting out to impress, the striking design of the AKH Tower with its gleaming glass, geometric patterns and soaring height is already a talking point in Dammam, the oil capital of Saudi Arabias Eastern Province, said a company spokesman. "A compelling sight by day or night, it also serves as memorable landmark for all to navigate by. Offering prime office space with unrestricted views, most of the office space is reserved for AKHs own use, but several floors are available for tenant companies," he stated. Ammar Al Assam, the executive director of Dewan Architects + Engineers, said an eye-catching design aspect is the way that angled lines run across the building. "These embrace the podium and then continue upwards towards the tower, innovatively taking the form of ramps and other vertical circulation elements. This distinctive approach allows the podium to be more than just an architectural component, but rather an integral part of the towers intricate design and character," he noted. Al Assam pointed out that the shape of the tower was more than just a visual treat and it also contributes to a versatile, highly functional design. The towers facade and slanting volumes make for arresting lines and configurations within the interior, creating distinctive and dynamic office spaces on every floor, which allows the building to cater to numerous companies with varying spatial needs, he noted. According to him, the tower is destined to become a landmark building in Dammam. "The high-quality design of AKH Tower means that visually it looks incredible from every single angle. Were proud to be making a lasting impression on Dammams skyline," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Kuwait-based equipment rental and logistics service provider Jassim Transport & Stevedoring Company (JTC) said it has put a brand new Demag CC 3800-1 lattice boom crawler crane, manufactured by Terex Corporation, into service. A global manufacturer of lifting and material processing products and services, Terex Corporation delivers lifecycle solutions that maximise customer return on investment. Besides Demag, the Terex brand family includes Terex, Genie and Powerscreen. The crane was handed over by Terex Cranes Senior Sales Manager Joerg Mueller to JTC Chief Executive Officer Adel Kohari at a key ceremony held in Kuwait. "The CC 3800-1 enhances JTCs lifting capabilities over our Demag CC 2200, and this will put us in a position to meet the needs of our customers in the oil and gas industries even better in the future," remarked Kohari. JTC, he stated, was an important player in the equipment leasing, transportation, and logistics industries in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Through its ports management, contract logistics, equipment leasing, and power rental divisions, the company provides professional, high-quality, cost-effective leasing and logistics services both to the public and private sectors, stated Kohari. "The CC 3800-1 was put to work immediately after delivery and passed its first test with flying colours involved in successful lift operation of a heat exchanger as part of a large-scale oil and gas project," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Alkhabeer Capital, a prominent Saudi-based asset management company specialising in alternative investments, today (February 17) announced that Alkhabeer REIT has signed a major facility agreement with country's leading bank Al Rajhi. The shariah-compliant deal will have a tenor of five years, providing financing of SR420 million ($99 million), out of which SR340 million will be used by Alkhabeer REIT to finance part of the targeted assets, and SR80 million will be used for future acquisitions of income-generating assets, said the Jeddah-based company. The SR1-billion Alkhabeer REIT, which successfully closed its IPO in November of last year, was oversubscribed at 104 per cent and raised SR247 million from 25,124 retail and institutional investors. It is currently targeting net annual returns of 9 per cent which are among the highest rates in the market. On the deal, Alkhabeer Capital CEO Ahmed Saud Ghouth said: "Having a strong credit record would support Alkhabeer REITs future growth potential. Thus, since its inception, we have been keen on building the funds credit record with the kingdoms banks and financial institutions." "This agreement is the result of Alkhabeer Capitals unique relationship with Al Rajhi Bank, and we look forward to further strengthening this partnership," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Bahrain FinTech Bay has announced that its Venture Acceleration Platform partner Taiger will conduct executive training on AI and automation at RegFact next week. The executive training course will take place at Radisson Blu Hotel, Diplomat, on February 25 between 2 pm and 4 pm. The course will focus on an introduction to AI, Value of AI, Knowledge Work Automation, and will include demos and case studies. The Taiger Academy is a parallel initiative that focuses on providing AI training to participants of different backgrounds and experience. Taiger is the market leader and pioneer of Knowledge Work Automation. Its mission is to help organisations optimise operational efficiencies by automating complex cognitive tasks. Their solutions provide unparalleled accuracy in information extraction for industry leaders in financial services, and government. Taiger is recognised as Gartner Cool Vendor in 2017. The training track will be lead by VP sales of Taiger, Henri-Christian Hartloff. Henri is currently driving the companys global business development activities. Recently, Taiger was announced as a Venture Acceleration Partner of Bahrain FinTech Bay, which grants Taiger access to a platform of an extensive network of financial institutions, corporates and sovereign entities in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The partnership with the Bahrain FinTech Talent Program aims to extend Taiger Academys specialised training programs in applied AI to strengthen Bahrain FinTech Bays efforts in AI education, upskilling and retraining of professionals in the Mena region, the statement said. TradeArabia News Service Bill Boyd is a member of the Susquehannock Trail Club. He can be reached at billboydsts@gmail.com. Thousands of people have rallied in Serbia\s capital for 11th week in a row against populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government. The crowds at Saturday\s protest lit flares outside the parliament building chanting anti-government slogans. Opposition parties meanwhile offered an "agreement" to the citizens pledging to restore democracy they say Vucic has stifled. The street protests have spread to other towns challenging Vucic, a former extreme nationalist who now says he supports Serbia\s European Union membership bid. Critics accuse Vucic of stifling hard-won democratic freedoms in the country that went through a series of wars during the 1990s. Protests against Vucic started after thugs beat up an opposition leader last November. Beleaguered opposition parties say they will boycott any future elections in Serbia unless they are free and fair. SOURCE: AP Dalit woman thrown out of house in Salyan A Dalit woman and her one-and-a-half-month old daughter have been thrown out of house by her husband and in-laws at Chaukhola in Kumakh Rural Municipality-6, Salyan. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Northeast State Community College student Samantha Parrish is one of eight Achieving the Dream (ATD) 2019 DREAM Scholars selected from across the country. mfanukhona@times.co.sz MBABANE Did Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) follow the law? It is not yet conclusive that EEC did or did not follow the Public Procurement Act of 2011when it sought the services of a forensic audit. As a result, in order to clear the air, the Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (ESPPRA) has instituted its own investigation into whether the procurement methods used by EEC were in line with the law. Madoda Mngomezulu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ESPPRA, confirmed that the authority instituted the probe for one purpose how was the procurement carried out? He was responding to a question on whether the ESPPRA was investigating Prodogy SA (Pty) Ltd which was finally awarded the tender to forensically investigate allegations of fraud, corruption and tendering system manipulative tendencies by the public enterprises suppliers. In his response, Mngomezulu said it was absolutely false that the authority was investigating Prodogy. methods used and processes We are not investigating Prodogy. We are looking at methods used and processes applied during procurement, he said. Sifiso Dhlamini, the Corporate Communications Manager at EEC, said there was nothing official received from ESPPRA, and his company would not be in a position to say anything about the issue. What does the law say? Section 6 of the Procurement Act provides that a deviation from the use of a public procurement method, rule, process or document may be permitted by the Agency (ESPPRA). This may be possible where exceptional requirements make it impossible, impractical or uneconomical to comply with the Act. Section 6 (1) (b) further states that ESPPRA may sanction the tender waiver where the market conditions or behaviour do not allow effective application of the methods, rules, processes or documents. The permission for bypassing tender processes may be granted where national security may be compromised or the deviation could be necessitated by specialised or particular requirements that are regulated or governed by harmonised international standards or practices. It remains to be seen if EEC will produce evidence that the procurement was done outside the law because of the reasons mentioned above. Procurement methods and process Section 42 states that a procuring entity (EEC in this case) shall use one or the methods specified in the Public Procurement Regulations for all procurement. However, the preferred methods, according to the Act, shall be (a) an open tendering for goods, works and non-consulting services and (b) request for proposals for consulting services and other methods shall only be used where the procurement meets the conditions for use of an alternative method specified in the Public Procurement Regulations. Lutsango dancing in the rain as they left the royal residence. (Pics: Phephile Motau) BUHLENI Wet affair! These two words best describe the Buganu ceremony at Buhleni Royal Residence yesterday, after an afternoon thunderstorm spoilt it. For the first time, people did not listen to His majesty the King making his speech at the ceremony, as it was cut short due to the rain. Thousands of people had assembled at the royal residence for the annual traditional ceremony, which did not take off due to the thunderstorm which began just before 4pm. At the time, members of the Lutsango Regiment were entering the main arena. The rain started with a slight drizzle, which did not bother people much as they continued with their activities. Spectators had already sat down in preparation to watch the Lutsango dance. Her Majesty the Indlovukazi had arrived at the arena, and spent some minutes as the rain got heavier. The drizzle soon turned into a thunderstorm, and the Lutsango were warned by the master of ceremonies to leave the arena as they continued to dance. She also said there was nothing sinister about the rain when emaSwati met, and that when people returned home, they would find their fields looking good. Most people went into different forms of vehicles they were travelling and, and some members of lutsango returned to their respective tents at their camp. The rain lasted for just over an hour. It is worth noting that although the rain spoilt the ceremony, it failed to spoil the mood of the people who had attended. After the thunder and lightning subsided, some people danced and sang in the rain. Some people left the venue, as chairs and electrical cables were being packed at the main arena. activities continue Most members of lutsango expressed their disappointment at the rain since they did not get a chance to showcase their dancing skills in front of Their Majesties. We are leaving now. What can we do because we are wet and cold? We have been told that the activities will continue inside the royal residence, said some members of lutsango. Meanwhile, before the thunderstorm, the sun was scorching hot and people were complaining of the heat. Others were seen profusely sweating, as they tried ways to cool off. Members of the public were found sitting under trees enjoying the traditional brew. Others were visiting the stalls set up by companies to showcase their products. Other stalls sold food, drinks and clothing. The people around the royal residence were dressed in different attires, but many were donned in the traditional attire. Business was also booming at the local shops, as people packed the area in numbers. The members of the public travelled from as far as Nhlangano. Sandie Ndlovu said he loved His Majesty, and when he called the nation, he made sure that he attended. The was a minor scare as a herd of cows was driven into the royal residence. A bull ran towards the stalls, causing people to panick and run to safety while screaming. The bull was then directed back to the herd, and they were directed inside the royal residence. Since winning Women of Praise auditions in 2015, Eswatini-born gospel music Nothando Hlophes music career has sky rocketed. From being a back-up artist, her face has graced international music TV channels and the most loved 1G (One Gospel), which is famous among Christians and gospel music lovers. Not only is she beautiful but her voice sends many into deep worship, changing and touching lives. Khululugcobo, her trademark songs, gave her high recognition and paved her way to her glorious second album titles Nothando Live in Soweto Theatre which was recently dropped. STYLE has a one on are with the rising star and she sent us through her musical journey intimately. Who is Nothando? Nothando Buhle Hlophe are my names as they appear on my birth certificate. I was born and raised in Lobamba in a family of two girls and three boys. I am still blessed to have both my parents alive and still a constant encouragement. I started my primary education at St Andrews Primary in Malkerns and later moved to do my secondary education at St Marys High School, and completed high school education at Phumelele High School. When did you discover your love for music? And the talent? My love for music goes way back to my days at Sunday school at the local Lobamba Christian Fellowship Church where I am a member to date. I joined the praise team there and served for a number of years, and I guess the constant encouragement made me discover the talent. The first audition in 2008 also helped give me the confidence in the talent God has given me. When did you take your music career to a professional level? My journey started way back in 2008 where I joined some auditions and hoped to be the next big star LOL. From there, Frans Dlamini spotted me and asked me to join him as one of his backing vocalists, a role I played until 2015. In 2015, I joined the Women in Praise auditions where I was the eventual winner. From there, I was part of Women in Praise which was recorded live in Swaziland in April 2015. I then recorded my first album titled Impilo yami which was recorded live at Esibayeni Lodge in February 2016. In the same year, I was blessed to be part of the Spirit of Praise Volume 6 recording at Carnival City. In April 2018, I recorded a live DVD at Soweto Theatre and later in July recorded with Spirit of Praise volume 7. It has been a journey that has taken me to several award events already; SAMAs, Crown Gospel Awards, Mzansi Christian Awards, NACAs, SGMAs. Does your choice in the gospel music genre have anything to do with your faith? Please elaborate? Good question, I am a born again Christian and have passion for gospel music, because it represent who I am and what I believe in. I actually believe that as people listen to my music it brings Christ to them as it starts ministering to me first. Over the years, your music career has grown exponentially... What strongly attributed to that? It is a series of efforts that actually brought about the growth. The biggest factor has been exposure to the best. Working with Women in Praise really opened my eyes and introduced me to the world of professional music. Joining Spirit of Praise for the last 2 editions has really contributed immensely to my growth. Working under the legendary Benjamin Dube really pushed me a lot. Winning the awards a couple of years ago really motivated me to push even more and seek to attain greater heights. What challenges have you faced since being in the public eye and how have you overcome them? The biggest challenge, Id say is expectation. You have one big hit and everyone expects your life to change instantly. Like every craft, music takes time and effort to give returns and requires a lot of sacrifice from one, its not all glitz and glamour all the time. What are you two best highlights in your career? The highlights of my journey thus far: Recording my first live DVD in Soweto last year which is due for release this February. The response my single Yebo has been receiving in the industry since the release last November, going as high as number 2 on both iTunes and Google Play gospel single charts in South Africa. This song also ot to number 1 on EBIS music charts and number 2 on Rainbow FM top charts. Winning MTN SWAMA awards in 2017 for Best Gospel Artist and Best Female Artist. Being part of the Spirit of Praise volume 7 live DVD recording at Carnival City alongside the greats in the gospel industry; Benjamin Dube, Dumi Mkokstad, Thinah Zungu, Matema, Neyi Zimu, Omega, Sipho Ngwenya, Bongi and Collin, etc Being part of the Spirit of Praise volume 6 live DVD recording at Carnival City alongside the greats in the gospel industry; Benjamin Dube, Dr Tumi, Dumi Mkokstad, Winnie Mashaba, etc. Recording and releasing my first album in 2016. Over 1.1 million views on YouTube for the khulula ugcobo song I lead on Women in Praise. The first ever live recording I was part of the Women in Praise project and winning the Swazi auditions. Currently, what is your biggest project and what should people expect from it? My biggest project this year is the release my album title Nothando Hlophe live at Soweto Theatre which is due for release this coming Friday in Swaziland. I spend the year doing promotions across the region and I am planning to do tour shows on some of the major cities during the year. What are other projects which gospel music lovers expect from you? Even though my primary focus is on promoting my album, I will also continue being part of Spirit of Praise seven tours and events as a featured artist. A single Impilo yami from that album has been in high circulation over the Christmas period and another single Qina I do with Sipho Ngwenya will also be promoted this year, from the same project. Wise words to aspiring artists.. Attitude determines altitudeIf you keep a positive attitude and work hard on your craft, only the sky can be the limit, no short cuts. Anti-graft officials bribe case exposes how corruption thrives In an unprecedented case of corruption, a commissioner at the apex anti-graft agency has been accused of receiving bribe, and reports that the incident was in the knowledge of the political leadership have once again made it evident how pervasive corruption is in Nepal. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. RTHK: Take back jihadists, Trump tells Europe European nations must take back hundreds of Islamic State group fighters captured in Syria, President Donald Trump said late on Saturday, after a delay in announcing what he said would be the end of the "caliphate." Trump shocked allies in December by declaring the pullout of roughly 2,000 US troops who had been assisting local forces in Syria against IS, whose sole remaining territory is half a square kilometre in eastern Syria. The pending US pullout set off a countdown for governments whose citizens, having joined IS, were captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). "The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial," Trump said in a tweet, using another acronym for IS. "The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them. The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go." Once the US-led coalition declares it has taken all IS territories, the White House is expected to withdraw American troops. When that happens, the risk is high that "foreign terrorist fighters" will escape SDF control, posing a new threat. For about two weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing its allies to take their citizens home, and the US said it was ready to help in the repatriation, but time has been running out. Several countries, including France, that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention now confront a diplomatic, legal, political and logistical puzzle. "We do so much, and spend so much - Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!" Trump said in his late-Saturday tweets. On Friday he said announcements on the fall of the caliphate would be made "over the next 24 hours," but that deadline came and went. An SDF commander said his US-backed forces slowed their advance to protect civilians. The jihadists declared a "caliphate" in large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but have since lost all but a tiny patch of territory near the Iraqi border. Trump's Syria pullout has highlighted the deep trans-Atlantic rift that emerged under his presidency, and the differing views of the two sides were on display on Saturday at a security conference in Munich. A French government source criticised the Trump administration's approach as "we're leaving, you're staying" and added: "They're trying to manage the consequences of a hasty decision and making us carry the responsibility." (AFP) This story has been published on: 2019-02-17. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.